I, Eternity
by Lycanthropic Nerev
Summary: Chapter 71 up. This is the tale of a man who walks forever through the highs and lows of life. A man who will live forever to watch and aid humanity when he is needed. He is eternal, a man, a demon, a god.
1. Awakening

I, Eternity

The Awakening

His eyes flitted open. He hissed and rose. A blood fiend incarnate, he was drawn and pale, bizarre tattoos around his face and neck, tracing down to his bare white chest, where it twirled into the pattern of a blade-shorn heart. He wanted blood. He glanced at the weaker creature sleeping nearby. Much younger. No blood in her. She would be thirsty when she awoke. He looked through the total darkness of their lair for threats. Nothing. His hypersensitive vampire eyes could see, plain as day, the filthy stone walls, the ratty carpet, and the brown crust of what was once the beautiful red nectar.

He left the lair, into the dark of night. He prowled along the walls of buildings, like a malevolent insect, until he saw two men. Both impure human stock of some form or another. One had the smell of death about him, the others the smell of parchment. A hunter. A hunter of his kind. His blood would be a well-won prize. He didn't know why, but the idea of a fierce battle with a worthy foe excited him. He didn't care, either. He just knew that it did.

He tracked them both. He followed the scholar first, primarily. They went into a building. He noticed other men on the roofs. Sneaking, waiting and watching, but not seeing him. He went up and found a window. The hunter and the scholar were talking.

The stones shifted, a small piece of the wall came tumbling down. He fell. Two stories to the cobblestones head-first.

----------------------------------------------------------

_Noise. Smoke and flame. Blood-soaked blades._

_A woman, fierce, small, indomitable. She had a spear. She loved him. He loved her. _

_Elves. Elves!_

_Father of my enemy, I RENOUNCE YOU!_

_Cannot be stopped._

_My friend, reconsider! He is too powerful for us to change! Leave him as he is with his filthy offspring._

_A monster in a ship's husk. The sword of the Snake-men enchanted by it's blood._

_A beautiful young woman. A beautiful young woman who held the death of thousands in her soul in the future. They were in love. Their passion nearly destroyed the world as they knew it._

_Years passing. More death. Snow. A village. Raiders. Elves. One had honor. He tricked him to death…._

_A librarian. Ancient secrets of his clan. A son-killer._

_Travel. A young Khajiit. He always liked Khajiits. Fatherless who needed a father. He wanted to be the father. _

_His son nearly dying. To save with a curse or to let him die?_

_The woman with the spear. He loved her. She hated him. She was of his kind by his hand…_

_-----------------------------------------------------------_

He snapped up the instant he had hit the ground, but what was done was done. So our story begins, with the Enemy of Gods, the Friend of Legends, the Lover of a Myth, awakened.


	2. Memory

I, Eternity

Memory

He ran, then jumped. He went from a street to a rooftop. Then he thought. It was a small thought, but then it grew: "I can jump that high?"

Then the realization hit him. He had thought in words, in clear, individual words. Not in concepts or general feelings, but single ideas in the form of words. A torrent of images and sounds filled his perception, and he fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands. "I am a person. No, was. I am a vampire. I am ancient. I am in… Skingrad. The sky is blue, it's cloudy, I'm thirsty. I'm _thinking!_" He said aloud. He sprung up, throwing his hands out to his sides, and yelled with joy as his mind returned.

He felt it. His mind was fragmented, broken, but not irreparable. He landed on a street. He remembered one spell, an incantation. He didn't remember what it did. So he pronounced the words, familiar but not, and was whisked away.

"Magic." He thought. "This is magic. It does many things. Alteration changes, Illusion changes perception, restoration heals and wounds, destruction destabilizes, mysticism is all and nothing and in-between."

He appeared in a small chamber, it's door caved in, and it's walls of earth. It was filled with boxes, and there was a desk.

"Desk." he thought, still in ecstasy over his remembering of how to think in words, "and on it a paper."

He picked up the paper. The symbols were familiar. Not all of them.

"If… if you are… re… reading… 'If you are reading this…'" He began. Then he processed the word "reading" and remembered what that was. "Reading, the understanding of the symbols on a paper or other surface as a sound, several of which make up an individual word." He said aloud. He then remembered what the symbols meant, and remembered an event.

-----

_He walked into the large, white marble room. He had just washed the blood off of himself. His fellow-slave Haefing, their master's clerk, stood at a desk, looking at a small yellow sheet., muttering. "Haefing, what are you doing?" He asked._

_"Reading." Haefing responded, showing him the small yellow sheet with black marks._

_"What's reading?" He asked. _

_"Reading is when you take these small symbols and understand a word from each set. See here, 'Magic.' These symbols mean those sounds."_

_"I'd like to learn that." He said._

_"Come, my child." The wizened old man said. "First we must liberate all of our brothers, then I can teach you."_

-----

He read the letter fully, aloud.

"'If you are reading this then the worst has happened: time has caught up with me, and I have forgotten all. I can't write what you really know, too many people are looking for you. What we really know, since for now we're different. But what you must do, is keep thinking. Take what memories we've regained, and string them together. Find a continuity. Listen to others talking, in the hopes that a trigger word will pop up, and you'll have a flashback. Read dictionaries and study magic and war craft. The more you remember, the closer you'll be to unlocking your power.

LN, 2E53.'"

He sat on one of the boxes and thought. He remembered a bit about this, he knew that he had written it, long ago. He had been powerful, and wise. So his… what were they? Initials, were LN. He could go by those for now.

He decided that, if the letter was his own, then everything else here was likely his, and could possibly restring some of his memory. He opened one crate, and found a suit of armor. It was a black and red metal. He thought for a moment, then remembered the word 'Daedric." It was dented and scratched, showing clearly it's age and it's frequent use. But when he put it on every dent and bump felt natural, like a second skin. He barely noticed the weight of it, but he was aware that the protection it offered wasn't very good.

The next crate was filled with books. In reading the titles he remembered much. Spell books, all. He didn't dare try the spells yet, since some he felt didn't seem complete and others he couldn't remember how to do them at all, just that they were established spells. He left those.

The third box contained a smaller box. He lifted that out and put it on the desk. He undid the small locks and reverently opened it, for the decorations showed that the contents had once been of great value to him.

A sword. A sword of the Snake-Men, a katana. He picked it up. It was perfectly balanced. The hilt came from his hand to just within two fingers of his elbow. The blade, from tip to tsuba ("Tsuba, a type of hand guard," he thought to himself) was as long as his leg from toe to hip. The blade shone, though there was no light in the cave, with powerful enchantments. The hilt was comfortable, as though he had wielded it in a hundred thousand wars, and was a golden color, ending with a dragon's head on the pommel. Inside the dragon's mouth were two fangs. He remembered more from that, many sword techniques involving smashing the pommel into the opponent.

Also in the box was the sheath. It was like a serpent, also with a fanged dragon's head on the end. On it was inscribed the word "Lightspark."

He sheathed the sword, which seemed to vibrate with joy at their reunion. He then cast a spell he remembered after he first cast the Recall, a reversal of the spell to return him to the previous point.

He appeared on a Skingrad street, fully armed, fully armored, and with a set purpose. A vampire hunter only talks to a scholar who knows a great deal on vampires. He would speak with the scholar, too.


	3. A Band

I, Eternity

A Band

LN didn't go for anything too fancy. He simply walked into the bar where the scholar was, and sat next to him. He felt a strange presence, a pulse coming from a small bag on his person. It felt to him like a pleasant warmth.

"Who was that vampire hunter you were talking too earlier?" He asked. The scholar looked at him and blanched for a mere second at his grey eyes, sunken skin, and lethal fangs.

"His name is Drevas. He's heard about your kind here in Skingrad, and he wants to kill them. Kill you. But you're not like the others. You can blend. He's looking for the obvious, berserk vampires in caves and catacombs."

"He'll have no problem there. This place has so many tunnels and caves it may as well be a little bloodsucker anthill." LN said. He stopped. He smelled a presence. The hunter had returned. For a second he felt an urge to fall upon him and kill him. He kept it in check. He saw the hunter's hand reach for his weapon, but LN's eyes flashed red briefly, and he didn't, but his anger didn't abate for a second.

"I know what you are." He said.

"Then we already have a few differences. I don't." LN said. "Or I do know a little. Maybe we can strike a deal."

The scholar led them up to his room. The hunter kept his hand on his weapon, but didn't draw it.

"So, I know where some vampires are." LN said. "The kind you're hunting, the impure Cyrodiilic clan." He mentally noted that he had instinctively called them "impure" despite the fact that he knew nothing about them.

"Yes, I am." The hunter said. "The Order of the Silver Sun sent me to kill them."

"There's a pack of them in Bloodcrust Cavern. They always tend to gather there. It's close, but not so close as to be obvious."

"And what do you want in return?" The hunter asked him.

"That once those vampires are dead, you leave, me unharmed." LN replied.

LN's eyes flashed again. The hunter reluctantly nodded in assent.

"Then let's get going." LN said. "To Bloodcrust."

"I never agreed to that!" The hunter said.

"Well, there is an entire pack of vampires in the cavern. I think it'll take more than one hunter."

He hunter growled, but without any influence on LN's part he understood that the blood fiend before him was right. He agreed.

They left. It was still night. They passed through the gates of Skingrad and walked towards the cave.

_"You useless piece of shit!" The man yelled. _

_"Father, please!" The boy cried back from under the raining blows of the cane._

_"This beast now has all the knowledge we've gained! Everything ever written on vampire-kind! You have ended us!"_

LN twitched. A hunter and his son. He had been watching this unfold. From where? On top of a bookshelf. What had been in those books that had been so important that he would break into the place? And where was it?

They reached the cave. They walked in, and LN slunk into the darkness. The hunter killed the ones that stood stupidly in the center of the chamber, ripping apart the dead body of a young woman to get the scraps of the red nectar they had left. The fool. LN quickly climbed up to the ceiling, which was crawling with the beasts.

He dispatched them, quickly and efficiently. They had no memory or skill, only their madmen's strength and the…

_"The primary stimulant of the vampire's prodigious strength is his feeding. It has been theorized that the adrenaline in the victim's system generated by the fear of death (and hyperstimulated by secretions on their fangs) is the primary cause for their strength and speed when fed. This would answer why the fed vampire is so much more powerful than a rational unfed vampire, however the addition of berserker violence given by the beastly nature of most unfed vampires causes a balance."_

… adrenaline from the maiden's blood coursing through their veins. They were simple targets, and a good way to get himself back in the habit of fighting with his mind.

He landed when they had dispatched the entire pack.

"That wasn't so hard." The hunter said, still oblivious to the danger he had been in.

They returned to the inn. They found the scholar quickly stuffing a red object into the small bag LN had focused on earlier.

"What's that?" LN asked.

"I was hoping to keep it a secret." He said. "It's said to be a Soulgem containing a part of Lamae Beolfang, the first vampire. They say if a vampire of pure blood announces himself of Lamae's clan while touching it, he will be infused with her power."

"Sounds fun." He said, whipping around, putting his hand out the window, and grabbing the assassin.

"How much did you hear?" He asked, his tattoos glowing malevolently. He made a mental note to try and figure out what that was when he got the chance.

"I heard it all." The assassin said with surprising candor. "Now either you let me go or kill me, I don't care. I've already failed."

"I'll be the judge of that." LN said. "Who were you sent to kill?"

"The scholar. He knows too much. One of the Brotherhood, Vicente, is worried that he'll use the knowledge against him."

"Shouldn't ever let personal worries get in the way of business, or vice versa." LN said. "And who are you?"

"I'm Zekke." He said, pulling off his mask and hood to reveal a Dunmer. LN restrained the urge to gut the elf then and there. Something in him said that wasn't him anymore. It had been once, but no longer.

"Well, I don't feel like killing you." LN said. "But I can't let you go. So it looks like you're stuck with us."

"I have a place we can stay." The hunter said. "if we have assassins after us, we can stay at my order's headquarters. There's no way anyone can get in there without us knowing."


	4. Remembered Power

I, Eternity

Remembered Power

LN walked with the group, keeping a close eye on the assassin Zekke and a closer one on the hunter. If the hunter reneged on his end of the bargain and decided to kill him he wasn't sure if he remembered enough on how to fight to get through it.

The assassin fell back to where he was. "Hey, why didn't you kill me back there? Most people would've gutted me right then." He asked.

"No real reason. I just didn't feel like it." LN replied.

"Well, thanks either way." Zekke said. "Anything I should call you?"

"May as well call me LN." He replied.

"LN? Whatever." Zekke said.

The day was coming. They all knew that was bad for LN. The scholar helpfully suggested that they stop in a cave. Perhaps it would also have a bandit or someone for LN to feed on. More out of spite than anything else, the hunter argued against it. But Zekke, LN and the scholar overruled him and they stopped for the day.

LN didn't find a bandit, but h made do with a Spriggan and a bear. Afterwards, he sat next to the scholar, tired after walking so far after years of comparative inactivity. He then thought about the Lamae Stone and decided to ask about it.

"So, what happens if you aren't part of Lamae's Clan and you say you are?" LN asked.

"According to some writings I found in Skyrim, if an impure clansman claims to be from Lamae's stock, his entire clan will burn to ashes instantly." The scholar replied.

"Oh." LN replied. "Bit of a steep price for lying."

He then decided to try and rest. He lay in a shadowy corner and his eyes slowly closed.

_The boy had been murdered. He stood on the bookshelf in shock for a moment, __and then__ dove. He landed right in front of the man._

_"Murderer!"Her yelled at him._

_"You call me a murderer, beast? That boy has let your kind evolve a hundredfold! He was a fool and deserved death!" The man drew a silver scimitar._

_He didn't bother with swords. The tattoos on his face glowed and the man was thrown against the wall. Bits of flesh were slowly torn off as a black hole opened in front of him and he was sucked in piece by piece. __He screamed as all but his vitals were torn away, and then he was sucked in completely. The suction continued for a moment until the black hole burst outward, spraying blood and viscera all over._

LN woke up. It was nearly sunset. The hunter was sound asleep, as were the others. He rose and found the Spriggan and bear he had killed earlier. Remembering the sequence in his mind, he concentrated. The tattoos glowed, and a black hole opened up, sucking in the mornings prey. The bodies were torn apart, but it was much cleaner since they were lacking blood. LN stumbled, and fell to his knees. He panted and closed his eyes, trying to shake the mist from his mind. He had overdone it. He had used too much power before he was ready.

But at least now he had an idea of what he was capable of.


	5. What Sin?

I, Eternity

What Sin?

LN and the others came over a rise to see a massive Ayleidic ruin. Leon's eyes flashed, and images of blood and death passed before his mind. He could barely restrict the urge to gut Zekke for no reason other than the fact he was an elf. He took a deep breath, inhaling through his mouth and exhaling through his nose, slowly.

"That's the Order's headquarters." Drevas said.

"Being that it's a place filled with people who'd love to kill me, I think it'd be best if I stayed somewhere nearby instead of inside." LN said, deciding not to mention that the structure caused him to want to murder.

The others all agreed, even Drevas, who by this point had become a bit used to the vampire. They went in, and LN found a cave.

He paced around inside as the sun rose and fell. During the daylight hours he fumed. He vented, and he thought.

"What the hell was that?" He asked himself. "Why is this important? What about those…"

His mouth twisted into a snarl. "Ayleids." He spat. "Those bastards! They're… what are they?" He punched a rock. "This is beginning to piss me off!"

He threw himself to the ground, cross-legged. "What the hell?" He grunted. He closed his eyes. "Ayleids. Something to do with Ayleids. Something so bad they make me hate all elves, everywhere. Something so…."

He suddenly started screaming. He clutched his head and fell backwards, squirming on the ground like a salted worm.

_"Father!" He yelled. It was too late. The carriage kept driving, leaving the broken, bloody mess that was once his father behind, as though it didn't matter._

_He fell to his knees. His father, the last family he had. Dead, Run over by a carriage like some dog. The girl came to him then._

_"Please, let's get out of here." She said. She pulled him away from the road into the nearby forest. _

_"Caelia." He said. "What's the point of going on living?" _

_The girl, fourteen years old, looked at him. She understood. Most of her family was still together, by the grace of the gods they weren't allowed to pray to, but she had seen it before. _

_"I don't know. But we have to keep fighting." She said to the wreck before her, the fifteen-year-old boy that had been through more pain than anyone deserved. "It's all we can do." She said, then kissed him on the cheek._

"RRAAAAAAAH!" He yelled, jumping up, then falling to his knees again, tears streaming down his face. "Caelia, where are you? Please, come find me! I'm sorry!" He said, then he collapsed, and his last thought before the world went black was "Sorry, but for what?"


	6. Parting Words

I, Eternity

Parting Words

LN woke up, and dragged himself to his feet. He stumbled towards the cave exit, where the sun had just set. The cool, crisp night air filled his nostrils, somewhat rejuvenating him. He shook himself off and snuck towards the Order's headquarters.

Closing his eyes briefly as he saw the structure, he retained focus on what he was doing, ignoring the architectural style that so reminded him of his enemy from times forgotten. He easily avoided the man up front, who was slowly beginning to nod off ("must be about time for a shift change," LN thought) and worked his way, silently, down to the living space. Quickly he roused Zekke and the Scholar, and just as quickly he brought them to his cave.

"Okay folks, I can't tell you everything because I don't know it. My intuition is telling me that if I keep traveling with you guys the hunters will break their word and kill me." LN said, staring straight at them, leaving out the fact that he feared for Zekke's life if he didn't leave. "So, I need to leave. However, you," he said to the scholar, "need help with the assassins. And you," he turned to Zekke, "probably wouldn't look good if you were this close to the target and left him alive."

LN got up. "So, the plan is, I go, you take something of his back to the Brotherhood and you go get a fake identity and blend in somewhere else."

He had said it quickly, desperate to leave before the killing rage building inside him overtook his reason. "Just do it!"

He walked to the far side of the cave, in total darkness where nobody could see him. He let them work it out. As he left, the scholar scribbled something on the cave wall and left a tiny pouch next to the etchings. LN went up to the writing and grabbed the pouch. The concise, neat and small handwriting said:

"Vampire, I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for. I've entrusted this to you, since I can't solve it's mysteries. Perhaps you, as a vampire, will have better luck."

LN picked up the small bag and opened it. Out fell the pinkish-red stone, shrouded in a pink smoke. He grinned, a half-grin that he remembered was terrifying to enemies and comforting to friends.

"Great way to say goodbye!" he called to the air. Unbeknownst to him, the scholar was at that very moment also grateful. He had done what none of his peers had: sat and spoken with a vampire personally.


	7. Bearings

\/p>

-1I, Eternity

Bearings

LN made his way in any direction he chose. He realized that know he had no goals and no purpose and no clues. He sat down on a big rock. He knew he needed anything, something to do. Because one of these things, his mind told him, would lead to the other two. So he assigned himself a purpose: go North.

So he did. He felt a pull. He looked at the stars. Despite his urge to look, they seemed to do nothing. No new flashbacks. Although, after the ferocity of the last one, he wasn't sure if he was ready to have another.

It was quite a walk north, but eventually he found himself approaching a large city. It looked Imperial, but already it seemed to have the flair of Hammerfell, the rounded architecture gleamed in the moonlight. Under this full moon LN leapt the walls of Sutch.

He felt it coming. For now, he beat it back. Now was not the time. He needed to find somewhere to stay. 

He walked up to an inn. It was quiet and dim inside. He called out. An old man hobbled in. 

"Oh, you again, after twenty years!"

LN made a nod, pretending to remember. 

"What happened to that woman?" the old man asked.

"Not sure. We had a bit of a falling-out." LN said. Something told him it wasn't completely a lie. 

"Well, what can you do, right?" The old man said. "damn, sir, you haven't aged a day."

"Well, like you said, 'what can you do?'" LN replied, with a grin. 

"Good to see you're sense is still there, too. Usual room?" The old man asked.

"Actually, I feel like a bit of variety. Anything else?" LN said, not knowing where "the usual" was. 

"Actually, we do. Business has sagged since last time. Room five is pretty nice, and none too expensive. Fifth door on the second floor. I'll assume your usual two-day stay is in order sir?"

"Yeah. I've been traveling a lot recently, so I'm gonna want some privacy."

"No problem, sir. Anything for your help with those monsters last time."

LN nodded and walked off to his room. After securing the windows against the light, he lay down to sleep, knowing full well that the worst torture of his remembered life was about to be visited on him again.

\/p> 


	8. Caelia

I, Eternity

Caelia

He was in the forest. He was screaming his lungs out, so hard his voice was hoarse and blood had began to trickle out of his mouth as he looked down at the bare dirt of the clearing. His fist hit the cold, hard earth until it, too, bled. Rather than stop, he began to punch the earth with his other hand. His mouth began to foam, so the area around it was pink with the blood and bubbly saliva. He continued for hours, until he couldn't keep himself up any longer. He collapsed to the ground. He reached up to his hair, finding with his hands one of the few beads there. The one that meant "father." With a jerk, he tore it out, then smashed it into the dirt.

Now all he could do was whimper.

_Wake up wake up wake up! _His current self began to think. But through enormous effort of will he silenced himself and continued to watch the scene unfold.

He eventually managed to drag himself up and stumble to a pool. He threw water over his face and began to soak his aching bones. He examined himself. Not yet tattooed, but with long black hair with a few different colored beads in it to signify his memories. The modern one as reviled at his ancient reflection. He wore only a homemade loincloth. He was emaciated and small. He could recognize some of his features, such as his long nose and tired eyes, but he was all but unrecognizable as himself yet. His joints did bespeak a lean agility, but nothing particularly noteworthy.

Suddenly, a figure came out from the trees. A young woman. Thin and hungry as well, she was better-fed as a house slave. Also short and agile-looking like the rest of the Nedes, him included, she sported a light brown hair filled with memory beads. She wore, as a house slave, more modest coverings than most slaves received, a potato sack.

She stopped when seeing him. She had comforted him the day before. He had disappeared, but as any field slave of thousands he was not missed. She mouthed his name silently, then smiled. She ran to him, and embraced him, laughing.

He didn't smile, nor laugh. He wanted to embrace her, but his arms felt like lead after his mad fit. He simply said her name: "Caelia."

"I was so worried for you!" She said, for she could speak more fluently than most of her kind. "I thought they'd sold you, maybe even killed you. Please, don't run away. We can live."

"No." He said. He pointed to the bead half-covered by the dirt. "They just make us dead." He was simple. He understood the words of the elves but was not skilled in using them.

"Not all of us. Please, come back with me, quietly, tonight." She said, hugging him harder. His heart felt like it was lashed by a thousand Elven whips.

"Please." She said, pulling away and staring right into his eyes. Her perfect green eyes, he thought.

She kissed him. He could barely move, but he made his best effort to kiss back. He felt her hands go from around his shoulders to his loincloth, then she pulled away to remove her own potato sack. Then and there, with his actions, not the empty words he barely knew, they showed each other their love.

LN bolted from the bed. He fell to his knees and clenched his hands into fists. His mouth twisted to a snarl and a horrible noise, like a crying beast's shriek, escaped his throat.

"Caelia, Caelia… where are you?"

He stood up. "Please…" He whispered to the air. "I need you now."


	9. Nightmare Unending

I, Eternity

Nightmares Unending

He walked that night, looking through the town going nowhere in particular. He felt himself drawn to it. He knew the pain would be all but unbearable when the next memory came, but he didn't know why.

He followed his heart and his feet until he walked down the main street. It was long past midnight, so the only people about were a small band of pickpockets and an odd prostitute or two. He didn't fear them, he simply made himself invisible in their minds as he passed. He passed by an alleyway and stopped dead.

Looking down it, he was seized by grief. A lump raised in his throat and he fought back tears.

_"You bastard!" Caelia yelled at him._

_"No, please…" He pleaded, "Try to understand, I did this with you at heart!"_

_"Look what I've become!" She shrieked. "I'm a monster! I've had to kill every night for millennia just to stay alive, and it's because of you!"_

_"I was immortal. I wanted us to be able to stay together!" LN said. "I didn't want the pain of you being killed!"_

_"You selfish fuck!" She screeched. "Your feelings! What about me? I've had to suffer for your selfishness!"_

LN fell to his knees. It had begun here.

_"The field outside the walls. Meet me there in three hours. We'll settle this forever there." She said, before jumping over the wall and running off._

LN followed the trail of his memories. He had returned to the hotel and buffed out some of his armor's scratches and dents, then gone to the field. He had fed himself to be on his toes, then had waited.

_"I'll kill you for what you've done to me!" Caelia snarled._

_"Please. We don't need to fight." LN pleaded again. He wanted nothing more than keep this from happening._

_"Shut up!" She yelled, and thrust her spear at him. He dodged to the side. He grabbed the spear. _

_"Please! I'm sorry for what I did to you, but I did it because I love you!"_

_She ripped the spear away, knocking him off-balance. Then she stabbed him through the shoulder with it. He ripped it in two. She drew a backup dagger and rushed him. He didn't want to kill her. He raised his sword to block, and tried to fling the dagger away, but she had moved. She stabbed him in the back. _

_He was afraid._

_He lashed out, trying desperately to survive, not to kill. _

"Why was I afraid?" LN asked himself. He didn't understand. Nothing he knew about himself now suggested he had feared death, just the amnesia that he had eventually been cursed with.

_He had stabbed forward trying to drive her back a few feet as she drew another dagger. He stabbed her in the heart._

_"No…." He said, letting go of the sword and catching her as she fell. "No…. NO!" _

_She was dying. There was nothing he could do. She was breathing in ragged gasps. _

_"I still love you." He said. He didn't know why._

_"I still hate you." She replied. She faded away then._

LN clenched his fists on the place where he had murdered his great love.

"So that's why my memories sealed off." He said. "Fuck it."

He walked off. He understood now. The pain of that night would have killed him if it was taken full force. He had sealed his own memories to save his life. He had done it because he had been afraid to die. His sadness was being dwarfed by rage. He was pulsing with rage-infused magic as he walked towards the forest.

He was walking towards the forest as something large and heavy hit him on the head, knocking him out cold.


	10. WakeUp Call

I, Eternity

Wake-Up Call

His vision was blurry. He was filtering between the now and the then.

"_Hermaeus Mora…"_

"Is he coming around yet?"

_"… I burn this sacrifice to you…"_

"We can't operate. His body won't take it."

_"… My true God, who with greatest wisdom guides all things…"_

"It's been months. He may never wake up."

_"… For all things are determined by fate."_

"Malendil, hurry! He's struggling."

_"__**I AM AND YOU ARE AND ALL ARE WE!**__"_

He jerked up, screaming. That last one was different. That didn't come from his own memories. That was invasive, deliberate, and malicious.

"You have awakened." A small, high voice said serenely.

"Where am I?" He asked, trying to get up, but finding his wrists and ankles bound. "What is this!?" He snarled, sending a charge through his body. Instead of melting the bands, they shocked him back. "What's going on?"

"Please. Calm down. I'll let you out, then explain everything."

The Bosmer took out a key and undid the bands. LN sat up on the edge of the cot and took in his surroundings. It was a small hut, only one room, but it was clean and meticulous. He noticed that there was a trapdoor mostly obscured by the rug, and he felt the presence of a dozen vampires.

"The bands were for protection, both yours and ours. We sent a novice to try and find you, but instead of telling you about us, he thought you were to be captured. He clubbed you over the head and broke your skull in six places."

"Explains the headache." LN said, rubbing his sore dome.

"In your coma, you were letting off spells uncontrollably. You wounded several of our healers, and nearly killed yourself. So we put reflection band on. They filtered the magic then launched it backwards, which usually served to subdue you."

"That's all well and good, but who are you people and why did you want to find me?"

"I am Malendil. I am in charge of a group of Vampires."

"But you're just a mortal." LN said. "Why are you in charge?"

"Because I can go freely in the day, without drawing attention. Also, I have powers no vampire could master."

"Like what?" LN asked.

"I can generate a miniature sun, and strike down any of your kind who starts causing trouble with ease."

"Sounds impressive." LN said. "But what does your group do?"

"We were set up because of you. Or rather, because of your child."

"What child?"

"In time. Your memories are still locked away for the most part." She said. "I am Malendil. I will be your host and your guide as you try to get your memories back."


	11. Sins of the Son

I, Eternity

Sins of the Son

LN was mostly in the shack for the week. Malendil brought him vials of blood, but still told him nothing.

"I want you to heal up, physically and emotionally, before we try to get your memories back. Otherwise you may just lose them again." She told him.

One week after he woke up, his head had stopped hurting. His heart was also a lot better. Malendil finally opened up and told him a little. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"You have seen mad vampires. Rather than blend with society, taking what they need and living among mortals, they are simply beasts with superhuman bodies, kidnapping and murdering innocent victims in their caves. What we are dealing with is far worse."

"Kidnapping and murder seems pretty bad to me. How do they plan on topping that?" LN quipped.

"One vampire you know well is worse than all the rest. At times he is perfectly lucid. He can interact with mortals and blend easily, but it is a façade. He views vampires as the next step in evolution, and the rightful rulers of the world. He plans on enslaving all other beings and using them as cattle."

LN's head throbbed again.

"His name is M'Razzar."

_Elsweyr. Sand and blood. So it was and shall always be. _

_He was a kitten. A Cathay-Raght child who had been orphaned by the vicious skooma merchants. LN had found him in an apothecary. He was chained to the wall by his tail. There was enough length to grab things for the merchant, but not enough to escape his beating stick if he wasn't fast enough with the demands. _

_"How much for that slave?" LN asked. He wanted to kill the merchant. It awoke bad memories of his human life, when he had been a slave to an abusive master. _

_The merchant was a Suthay. His eyes were unfocused and there was still some powdered Moon Sugar around his nostrils. _

_He sniffed, sucking in a little more of the sugar. "Run out and get me thirty gold pieces worth of skooma and he's yours, human."_

LN panted. That kitten. He had been so good-natured and innocent despite his scarred childhood. To the point of his own death.

_"Alms for a poor old man?" A scrawny elf covered in rags asked. _

_"Father, shouldn't we help?" M'Razzar asked. _

_"He's probably swindling us." LN replied. _

_"Come now, Father, why are you always so cynical?" He asked as he took out a few gold pieces and approached the elf. _

_"No!" LN shouted as he saw the other man. The "scrawny" elf's spell wore off to reveal that he was actually very fit, fed and mean. The man cast a paralysis spell on M'Razzar as the big elf grabbed his coin bag and stabbed him. LN eyes suddenly glowed blue. A blue light enveloped the two thieves and they were lifted off their feet. He tossed them against the wall violently, then threw them against another. He held his hand forward and it, too, began to glow. The two robbers screamed as a small ball of energy appeared inside them and began to rip their innards apart. LN stopped. But only after the two looked like bags filled with jelly._

"I made him one of us." LN said. "But he changed. He became violent. Aggressive. Even when fed, he would hunt for blood. Eventually he simply… disappeared."

"He's resurfaced now. He's already been out hunting, but not for normal blood."

"Wait, the theory of Blood Powers?" LN asked. Malendil nodded. "I always thought that was bullshit."

"It's not." Malendil sighed. "We've experimented too. Some of our own vampires became horribly powerful when they drank the blood of wizards and battlemages. It eventually wore off, but if you drink particularly powerful blood you can keep an echo."

"So are we worried?" LN said.

"Yes." Malendil said. "While you were out, he went to Morrowind. He drank Vivec's blood."


	12. The Eternity Echo

I, Eternity

The Eternity Echo

LN snarled.

"I know, it's not fun, but if your memories make you lose control, we need these." Malendil said.

The clamps settled on. The instant they were clasped, LN's eyes glowed red. Magic-sucking chains would never again hold him!

_"NE!"_ he shouted. The chains disintegrated as red lightning jumped from surface to surface.

"I will never again allow myself to be put into bondage!" He hovered an inch off the ground as the lighting began to envelop him.

"Oh, crap." Malendil muttered as she erected a barrier.

"Never again!" LN shouted as the lighting lashed out, blowing a hole in the wall. He rushed out. Into the night, leveling anything in his path, mindless. He left smoldering ruin behind him from the shore of the Rumare to the Ayleid ruin he found.

They were there. A small nomadic tribe was all that remained of them. He landed in the middle with a shockwave.

An old elf, visibly ancient beyond reckoning, hobbled up. The stink of magic, sustaining him for many centuries, was heavy in the air.

"What do you seek of me?" he asked in the Ayleid tongue. This served only to infuriate LN further. He said something, though what he said was lost to him as soon as he had uttered it. The Old Ayleid only chuckled, then laughed aloud. He was truly ancient. The LN of the past recognized him.

LN's fists clamped so tight his nails dug into his palms. The next second, he felt a pain in the back of his head and the world went black.

_Gold scales._

"Uhhh." LN groaned as he sat up. "What happened?"

"You showed just why we won't be trying that again." Malendil said. She had already fixed the wall. He remembered it being destroyed, but not much else. LN figured he must have been out for days… again.

"Did I do anything violent?" he asked.

"You destroyed my wall, and nearly destroyed a nomadic tribe before I had to knock you on the head myself and step in."

LN began to remember. Nomads, Ayleids. He sniffed and the corners of his mouth quivered angrily.

"Ayleids…. The slaving bastards!" He said, and everything in the house shook.

"It's obvious from that alone that some very significant memories of yours involve them."

LN huffed. "I don't remember much. Just that it's bad."

"Obviously." Malendil replied. She handed LN a ring. "Try that on."

Warily, LN did. It was like a veil fell, like one of his perceptions was being blocked.

"What the hell is this?" LN spat. "It's blocking my power!"

"No it's not! Well, okay, yes it is." Malendil said. "But it's for everyone's safety. It brings your power back down to safe levels and focuses it. Until we improve your stability, please wear it?" Malendil asked. "I'm not asking this as anything but a concerned friend. If you don't do something, you'll soon hurt yourself."

"Did I hurt you?" LN asked.

"Almost, but I got a barrier up."

They stayed silent for a long time. LN still didn't know anywhere near the kind of power he had at his disposal. The prospect of him accidentally letting off a spell he wasn't ready to use made both him and Malendil think long and hard.

"Let's try to awaken another memory. The ring functions much like the chains, but without the psychological effects on you."

LN nodded and lay down. He closed his eyes and began to breathe, slowly and calmly.

"Let go of your physical self." Malendil said. "Reach out to the sky, the world, and Time…"

_"Time."_

_Golden scales. Golden eyes and wings. _

The last thing he felt was Malendil's hand gently squeeze his.

_It was dark. His torch barely lit the darkness before him… It was very hot, stifling, but he didn't want to remove his armor. It made him vulnerable. He pulled out the small orb. A tool of the Slavers, converted to a weapon of his people's liberty. In the orb the face of his dear friend and leader appeared. She knew any sound would betray him. So she mouthed "How is it?"_

_He simply nodded and smiled. She did likewise, and cut the link. He put the orb away. _

_He pressed on, the bronze sword before him. He put the torch into a puddle. Now was the time to use his new power. _

_He closed his eyes for a moment, then they shot open. Everything was clear. There was a door in front of him. He glided noiselessly in. Inside of the massive room was the statue. Two Dragons, one standing over the other, clutching the fallen one's heart in it's jaws. The "victory," or as his people saw it, the betrayal, of Shor by Auri-El. This was where he needed to be. _

_Silently, he mouthed the words. A prayer to Shor. He crept into the small door behind the statue, the private quarters of the High Priests. One by one, they were all killed. Before he killed any of them, he took a small portion of their blood. That, and the satisfaction of destroying the Slavers where it hurt, were all he needed._

His eyes opened. Malendil was looking at him.

"I saw more. I was working with someone. There were Ayleids. I was killing them, feeding on them. Priests."

"You sound almost guilty." Malendil said.

"I don't know. I remember it feeling so right, but I was just murdering them. Killed them all in their sleep. On holy ground. I don't even know why I hated these people."

Malendil rubbed the back of his head. "It's nearly dawn. Go downstairs and get some rest." She said.


	13. Disturbance Echo

I, Eternity

Disturbance Echo

LN's death-sleep was disturbed by more images. Unlike the visions of the past he and Malendil intentionally brought down on him, this seemed blurry, shifting, as though it were true one moment and false the next. He saw choices, deaths, people, and at the center were two familiar-but-not beings.

One was a large, hulking Khajiit, one of the larger breeds. Before LN's eyes his fur became black scales as heads, hands, feet, wings and spikes began bursting from his flesh, turning him into an unrecognizable monster. Somehow, LN felt no fear at this beast, only remorse, regret, sadness.

The other was an elf, or had been. He had the same aura as the beast, but it was controlled. Peaceful, calm, and also filled with the same sadness. LN's memories made him want to hate him, but he simply couldn't. The beast fell on the elf, and the elf put up no struggle, he simply allowed himself to be destroyed. Out of the melee, a light rose, and took the form of a lone wolf, who's sadness rivaled even LN's. The wolf let out a howl, and it's head came off. It's body flashed, and there lay the head of a man, it's eyes entreating LN to finish that which he had always had to do.

Suddenly, LN felt a tug at the edge of his consciousness. His mind wanted to return to his body. For a moment he struggled, wanting to glean some meaning out of these images. After a moment, the walls of his mind opened up and self-awareness flooded through like water into a submerged barrel. He let himself be dragged on the current of his thoughts until his body awoke.

It was almost sunset. LN looked around the room. The others hadn't yet begun to stir. He wondered how many of them dreamt, and what they saw if they did. He sighed and sat up, looking despondently at his armor. He felt so different, so separated, even from his own kind. In terms of age, he beat the second-oldest of this hodgepodge clan by some 2,500 years, but he only had a few hours of scattered memories of his 3,000 year history. For some reason, those few scattered hours were all important, somehow. There was something he needed to do, some voice in the back of his mind said. He reached into the bag and pulled out the small stone the scholar had given to him.

"You probably know, don't you?" He asked it, but the stone simply sat uselessly in his hand. As he waited to be able to take some sort of action, he closed his eyes and thoughts raced through his head.

_"Why am I here? What are these visions? Where are my memories? Will they help? What am I even trying to help?"_

He could still see the dream in his mind's eye. He strained his memory, trying to see why those two figures had been familiar. Neither had faces in the dream.

He stood and donned his armor. It was high time he left. Just as the sun went down, he snuck out of the hose, leaving only a small note:

"Malendil,

This isn't working. I will return, but first, I need to find out who I am."

He left no signature, a bitter reminder that he had no name to give.


	14. Frost Royalty Echo

I, Eternity

Frost Royalty Echo

LN didn't choose a direction. He simply began to walk. His journey took him far to the north, beyond Bruma, beyond the Jeralls and into the heartland of Skyrim. He felt a strong pull east, and heeded the call.

Icy wind and snow blowing in his face, he trekked for days and days, until he came to the ruin.

Looking at the destroyed village made LN's fists clench. Fire and war filled his sight. He growled and magical energy began to course around his body. A blinding light burst from his body, and suddenly he was no longer LN, the 3,000 year old lost husk, he was LN, the young vampire living among mortals in a pious Nordic village.

The village slept as he unleashed his power in the nearby field. A horde of Falmer, in the ages before they were wiped from the face of the planet. He dove into their midst, his youthful energy and his power making him an unstoppable force of destruction.

He charged headlong into the front lines, his new katana swinging madly. Blood flew in wild arcs around him as he drove through to their center. Soaked in the red nectar, he as truly a beast. When he got to the middle of the army, he began slaughtering in circles, the green and white field becoming a ankle-deep lake of red.

After a long time, an elf on a horse in enchanted armor pulled up. His followers made a circle as the Snow Prince of Skyrim dismounted, and challenged the demon to single combat.

His hatred welling inside him, LN violently ripped into the flows of magic around him. Calmly, his opponent touched them.

LN let loose with a massive shock spell. With a wave, the Prince batted it aside. He ran up with his elegant longsword, getting under LN's guard and stabbing him in the side. LN unleashed a kinetic wave from his body, knocking down the surrounding soldiers and throwing the Prince back. Blind with rage and hatred, LN stabbed his mind deeper and deeper into the magic around him. He threw a ball of pure energy at the Prince, hitting him square in the chest. The force spread across the cuirass, causing huge cracks to form. Immediately stabbing farther in, LN called a spark to form between his hands. It began to expand until it was as big as the combatants, then LN threw it, putting all the force he could muster between it.

The Prince managed to launch a stream of fire forward at the projectile, stopping it. It continued to push forward, expanding all the while, until it got so huge it compacted, then exploded, throwing both combatants back.

Both exhausted and unable to reach into unreality any longer, They began to duel with their blades. LN had received no training but war, so his blows were wild, uncontrolled, unbalanced. The Prince used precise, quick blows to get through LN's guard and scored many small hits. Not enough to do any significant harm, but enough to enrage the demon further, making his blows even more imprecise and causing him to leave himself open more and for longer. However, LN's hatred gave him strength beyond comprehension, and the Prince began to tire. Deciding to try for a killing blow, the Prince attempted a low thrust followed by an upward slash. He managed to pierce LN's calf, and on his upswing he tossed LN's sword away, LN being saved by his armor. With the last of his strength, LN ran. What little of his sanity shone through the hate and rage clouding his thoughts formed a plan. He approached a spear-wielding warrior and as the elf thrust, he jumped, kicking his sword up from the ground and catching it as he leapt. The Prince, who had been following close behind, was impaled. LN spun and cut his head off for good measure.

The modern LN saw more than just the fall of one opponent as he watched himself begin to butcher the remains of the demoralized army. He saw the fall of a people, the beginning of a genocide that he had begun. With that realization, he regained self-awareness of his modern being, and like after his dream, consciousness flooded his mind, this time, like the black hole in the cave, leaving him with an ancient power, this time the expanding detonator spell.


	15. Demonic Today, Reunion Echo

-1I, Eternity

Demonic Today, Reunion Echo

LN walked through the streets of Bruma. It was absolutely frigid, and snowing hard, but the people seemed not to care. LN smiled. He didn't know why, but he respected the Nords, and always had. He felt good being back in Cyrodiil, and for some reason he simply felt happy. He felt that perhaps he may unearth a happy memory here at last.

Then he felt it. Another of his kind. This one wasn't friendly by any means. LN followed the aura until he came upon it. It was unlike anything he'd seen before.

A Breton once, now it was completely inhuman. It's skin was grey and lizard like. It's eyes glowed with red malice, and it's tongue hung down a full foot from it's mouth, which was lined not with the two subtle fangs he was used to, but was instead full of vicious teeth.

It smiled a grim, mirthless smile. It hobbled forward. Slowly, each step silent as death. It continued to smile at LN. He felt a tug at the frayed edges of his sanity, then some pokes. The being was trying to manipulate him.

"Useless." LN said, then unleashed the full force of his own manipulative magic. The creature's will eroded and turned to dust like a stone over millennia, but then it instantly regenerated it's mental wall. It kept smiling and hobbling forward. Then LN felt the others. Two more of these creatures, seemingly spawned from the night itself. They could mask not only their visual presence, but could hide from the other senses as well, even magical detection. Keeping himself aware of this, LN drew his sword and cut down the once-Breton. It kept smiling, it's legs hobbling blindly into a wall and turning to dust, but it dragged itself with it's arms.

"Shit." LN said. Charging his magic. He let a fireball loose at the once-Breton, disintegrating it. It couldn't make sounds, but LN felt it's scream reverberate through his mind. Rather than fight the other two monstrosities, which were now hobbling slowly toward him, he jumped to a nearby roof. He saw a few Guild Mages run from their building to investigate the disturbance in the magic around them. They quickly managed to kill the beasts before LN heard the voice behind him.

"Useless prototypes, are they not?"

LN spun around, and was stopped dead in his tracks.

"You!"

M'Razzar smiled. "Yes, me."

"What do you mean 'prototypes?'" LN asked.

"Not even a hello?" M'Razzar taunted. "I'm insulted."

"Hello." LN grunted. "Now what about these things?"

"They're my babies. My little sons and daughters." M'Razzar smiled sadistically. "Birthing them was too much for them. Their minds died, they don't even know how to use their power, or even that they have any. They are simply blood-man monsters.

"You're doing experiments?" LN said. "Why?"

"What general can fight without an army?" M'Razzar asked, still smiling madly. "Come, Father. We are the pinnacle of evolution. We, and not the puny mortal races, should be ruling this planet. Think of it, the men, the mer, the Sload, all useless. They die, they rot, and they bring about cycles of war and suffering. Tiber Septim was a strong, kind, just man. Yet his sons' sons are weak, corrupt, cruel. Think of it! An age where a just ruler ascends the throne and stays there for all eternity!"

"No." LN shook his head sadly. "I see what your theory is, and it can't work. If men's hearts can be corrupted across generations by greed and cruelty, a single man can be corrupted were he to live forever. Best let things change."

"You would let the people of this world suffer under the chaos of upheaval and corruption?"

"Better than a static, stale order bereft of free will." LN said, surprising himself with his conviction. He would have to think on this.

M'Razzar's eyes, surprisingly, filled with tears. "Why? Why was I never good enough?" He wailed, collapsing to his knees. "Always I strove only to make you proud! Always I came up short!"

LN's eyes, too, began to moisten. He remembered.

"My son." Was all he said, falling to his knees and embracing his foster child.

"It will end just as we see it." M'Razzar said. "I will keep trying, I will go too far. You will be forced to kill me to save the planet, to preserve the freedom we both wished for as children."

Openly weeping now, they both knelt there.

"My son. My poor son."

"My father, my dear father."


	16. Third Era Echo

I, Eternity

Third Era Echo

In this man rested all of LN's hopes. Tiber Septim. The Nordic general who had nearly unified all of Tamriel in a few short years.

They had just ended one era, terming that the "second," and began anew, in an effort to begin to heal the broken land after the bloody series of wars that had come and gone. LN stood on the familiar city's ground and watched the procession. Tiber Septim, the face of hope for a ravaged land. This celebration had gone on all day, it was already well into the night before the celebration had begun to wind down.

LN himself felt hopeful, too. Perhaps now, with a strong man at the head of a new Empire based in law and justice, even if represented by false or misconceived gods, there could be some peace and quiet, time for the people to reconcile, for wounds to heal, for lands to grow and flourish.

For several decades he lived in the Imperial City, watching Tiber Septim and his successors. There were always small conflicts. It was a big world, after all, but still somehow LN was always looking up, hopeful, happy. After a time, he got bored, as he often did, and traveled south. Through the desert sands of northern Elsweyr he traveled, meeting few people, but always dimly aware of the presence of the Empire, if only by the additional flags he would find on caravans as he fed at night.

After several knights of travel, he reached the edge of a beautiful forest. He ventured in, staying close to roads but never quite on them, passing lakes, rivers, small villages as he went, always stopping and going for a few days, getting to know the locals before moving on with new experiences, new reasons to smile, until he reached a real city.

The architecture was amazing. There were so many curves and bends it boggled his mind after so many years in the Imperial City, where everything was all lines and angles. While taking in the sights, he heard about a library. A library with vast knowledge of vampires. Out of curiosity he went, only to witness a horrific murder. Sobered, he continued yet further south.

When he reached Seneschal, he had begun to get used to the architecture of Elsweyr, so he wasn't distracted. He did some odd jobs for a few months, until he adopted a Cathay-Raght child he had found as a slave. He couldn't abide by slavery, and racial lines aside the boy reminded him of himself. For twenty years he treated the boy as his own son. He poured his very soul into his education, his well-being, and his care. He was at times harsh, but for every act of discipline he set aside one hug. He taught the boy sword mastery, spell craft, generosity, kindness, and all the things he had not been taught as a child.

When the boy was murdered by a thief, LN used his vampiric powers to keep him alive, and to turn him into a vampire himself. From that day, though, he was different. He abused his newfound power. Was almost cruel when stalking and apprehending prey, and no longer responded to kindness, as though the shock of being murdered by the man he had been trying to help sealed his heart.

It was only a matter of time. Eventually, LN woke up and the boy had simply disappeared. LN wandered Elsweyr for a long time, hearing stories of a half-Khajiit, half-beast who drank the blood of mutilated victims. LN steeled himself and left for Valenwood, then north in a circuit until he came to Sutch. There he sealed his heart and mind away after he killed Caelia.

Dimly in his time in that state, he was aware of many things. People being born and dying, dreams made, fulfilled, crushed, reworked, kings rising and falling, the Empire weakening and strengthening. LN, inside his shell, wanted to cry out in anguish when Jagar Tharn brought the Empire to it's knees, exalt when the Champion slew him, and scream with pain when Time split in the West. Until that night when he hit his head and began to reenter his own body.

LN snapped back to the present. It was time to return. He still knew very little about himself, but his entire existence, albeit in skeleton form, during the Third Era was definitely a strong start.


	17. Death of an Emperor

I, Eternity

Death of an Emperor

LN was walking through the streets that night, months after his third era revelation, when he head footsteps on the rooftops. He ducked into an alley and climbed a building. He saw several men in dark red robes gliding from roof to roof easily, heading for the palace. They were dripping with malicious intent. LN followed them, keeping out of sight and earshot. The group began to split, some heading into the grates in the streets, still more heading to the palace.

LN scaled the outer wall. The assassins had been let in by another cloaked person. He reached a balcony and looked in after another few moments.

He smelled it first. Fresh blood.

The emperor's sons were dead. LN scanned the room. It had been violent, but quiet. He jumped down three floors, cutting off the assassins. He kicked one over, then knocked out the second. He grabbed the third by the throat and shoved him into the wall.

"Who are you working for?" He hissed. The assassin laughed. A high, ecstatic cackle of a man who has seen God.

"I serve Lord Dagon. You are too late. In moments, the emperor will die."

LN snarled and tore the man's throat out, roasting the other two with spells in a furious rage. He looked over the skyline to the Temple of the One. After a few seconds, the hole in the dome flashed bright white then went dark.

"Damn."

He rushed down the Tower as fast as he could go. Already the news was spreading. The Emperor and all three of his sons had been murdered. The fear was palpable in the streets. Nobody knew what would happen. There was no known heir who wasn't a maniacal madman left. Some people openly wept. LN passed an outdoor bar where an old, scarred legion veteran bawled like a baby into his drink.

Still later he passed the Temple district. Already there was a vigil being held where many men and women of many stripes and faiths sung hymns of mourning for the cunning and powerful man who had ruled Tamriel for sixty-five years.

LN felt like weeping, but he felt a familiar warmth. He grabbed a lute and strummed some cords. They came naturally to him. Words began coming out of his mouth in a language he didn't understand. He knew, though, that it was an old song he had sung often. A sad song, filled with memories he couldn't see but still stabbed into his hear like a thousand spears. A crowd gathered around him. They had never heard anything like it. They swayed to the slow, heartrending rhythm. The crowd grew larger and larger. They were all being put under the spell of LN's music. A second lute joined his, and a flute, and then a set of drums. Some people began whistling, some humming, a few trying to imitate the strange sounds LN was making. Successful or not, they all paid tribute to the fallen giant.

Legionaries, guards, citizens, all together poured their fear, sadness and uncertainty into the music. LN slipped away when he had sung himself hoarse. Still the mourning continued behind him. It lasted until the wee hours of the morning. As the dawn broke, the sounds began. They were quiet at first. Rumblings. Over the next few days they grew louder and louder. LN began to follow their source of origin with his magical sense. One dusk, he began to run.

The rumbling grew louder. Soon he began to feel it even in the ground beneath his feet. Then came one dawn the explosion. The skies choked black and red, a burning wind swept LN nearly off his feet. It singed the cloak he wore over his armor and his hair. He ducked into a cave to avoid it and the coming sunlight. He stretched his ethereal perception out and swept his mind's eye over in the direction of the epicenter.

Kvatch, the famous city was burning. Into the hellish gate before it was walking a vampire with an aura almost identical to his own. Young, strong, brash and courageous. The face of a hero. The hero Tamriel would need in the coming days. A small memory returned to LN of a prophecy. The wording was lost, but he knew that whatever it was, this boy was the answer.

LN watched from afar as this boy strode fearlessly into Oblivion, fought with abandon, and sealed the gate again with minimal effort, then selflessly he fought to rid Kvatch of the leftover Daedra.

_Yes, _LN thought, _If this boy is who I think he is, then he is the hero we need. _


	18. A New Purpose

I, Eternity

A New Purpose

"We need to be ready." LN said.

"Ready for what?" Malendil asked, irritated. LN had been like this for days with no explanation, setting up a strange circle underneath the house in the secret caves. She understood that while most of the Third Era had returned to him, his memory was still scattered.

"I don't know yet." LN said, "but trust me it's important."

He began to meditate daily in the circle. It came easily to him. Sometimes he would see whisps. Faces, still scenes, but nothing concrete. Sometimes he would hear whispers that he couldn't understand. Once he even screamed out "WRITE LETTERS IN DEAD LANGUAGES TO PEOPLE YOU'VE NEVER MET!"

Then, one night at midnight, he nodded off. He saw a figure before him, weeping. A young woman. As he approached, she leapt into the air with a vicious scream, her face crumbling and becoming old and vile, her clothes tattering and becoming moldy, revealing Vaermina.

He chuckled. Something told him he had done something like this before.

"The Balance of power has shifted." She told him. "We cannot contact Mehrunes Dagon."

"What do you mean 'Can't contact?'" LN asked. "Don't you have a system for this?"

"We do, but since the events in the Battlespire he has been silent." She said, gravely. She floated down to LN's level. "We fear he has been driven incoherent in the Waters of Oblivion. He has been reduced to his base component of pure disaster."

"So what do you want me to do about it?" LN asked.

"You, echo of Mundus, must find him and remind him of his debt to you."

"What debt?" LN asked.

"When next you sleep, I will visit you again with my comrades. We will remind you then. The next day, you will prepare yourself and step into the circle once more, then await our instructions."

With that, Vaermina lunged at him with a cry and LN woke up in a cold sweat.


	19. Disastrous Debt Collection

I, Eternity

Disastrous Debt Collection

LN the next night meditated. As promised, the Princes appeared to him. He looked around, and counted them off. Two were missing.

Clavacus Vile grinned at him, along with a few others. Some glowered at him. Vile's dog walked up to him and lay at his feet, and LN cratched behind his ears.

"Where's Sheogorath?" LN asked.

"We do not know. The link to the Shivering Isles recently went dead. It is nearing time for the Greymarch to begin, but he has never attempted to sever his whole realm off before." Vaermina said.

The other Princes stirred. "It is time for business." Vile said. In front of him appeared a large table, which they all gathered around. "Dagon has disappeared. Dropped of the network completely. He returned a few months ago, but we could only watch in horror from our own realms as the skies of other worlds rained with fire and death. Peryite's realm has been all but consumed in Dagon's incoherent rage."

Peryite snarled. "Where once he embodied Destruction as an agent of change, Revolutions, shifting continents, the leveling and then rebirth of cities, now he is simply a creature driven by a base desire to see everything annihilated with no hope of return."

"We, as Daedric Princes, can do little directly to one another. Stopping the God of War without his own blessing is impossible for us. You, however, as a Mundane being as opposed to a supernatural one, can stop any Daedric prince. Your kind, those of you from the fragile mortal world, can overcome challenges using less direct methods."

At this there was a huff, or rather a hideous dripping splatter, from Hermaeus Mora. Something about Him enraged LN, but something else told him more was at stake than personal vendettas he couldn't even remember.

"He will fail." Mora said, or rather, squelched from a small opening between a tentacle and a claw. "Able and irrepressible though the beings of Mundus may be, none may beat a Daedric Prince at his own game."

"Just shove it, fucker." LN shot at him. "Nobody said anything about fighting Him." He turned to Vaermina, "right?"

Vaermina nodded. "Many years ago, you saved the life of a Dremora Valkyn, a favorite of Dagon's and a future Daedric Count. There is a small red pendant in your magic bag, which Dagon gave to you as a sign of friendship. Show it to him, and ask that he stop his assault."

With that, LN was swept away. First, he landed in a bog. Or it seemed like one.

"We cannot bring you directly to His Realm." Vaermina said to him. "You must find the way from what remains of one of the minor planets of Oblivion."

LN got up and looked around. In the sky he saw such wonders as he had never known. In the distance, a planet was close enough to make out it's color. It was blue, with streaks of shining crimson. A white light emanated from a massive castle, so large he could see it from this other world. Slightly further away was a black world, and even looking at it gave him chills. He could sense the presence of a great, cold darkness.

He began to walk towards a nearby mountain. As he did, the world began to shift and change. Transforming from a dark, terrifying bog to a pleasant, idyllic forest. He saw that Magnus had moved over the horizon. With it's life-giving magic came the changes over the world's environment. Beings began to crawl their way up from underground, indigenous creatures that scuttled by him without giving notice. A massive, twelve-armed bear began to move off in the distance, and the mountain sprouted legs and moved off, revealing it was in fact a giant bug. As it moved, LN saw the most breathtaking planet so far: The Shivering Isles. An orb of blue-green water, but in the center was a mass of land, divided between a bright yellow and a dark green. But just beyond that, LN saw his goal.

Coming out from behind the Shivering Isles was a large, red-gold planet. LN closed his eyes and his feet lifted off the ground. A bubble surrounded him, and he rocketed off out of the atmosphere of the small planet effortlessly. He rocketed past the Isles and towards Havok Wellshead.

As he approached a large stone-like creature began to move off from the planet. LN thought nothing of it at first, then he realized just what it was: A large chunk of Peryite's realm had been ripped off and added to Dagon's world. It began to fly towards LN with astonishing speed. LN saw the massive magical spires that would launch bolts of pure energy at him if he got too close, and made a snap decision. He dove straight towards the gravity well of the planet, and focused his magic barrier in front of himself. He pierced the outewr shell and turned, flying under the surface as fast as he could. His Tattoos began to glow green and he heard a roar. He popped out of the Planet's surface and saw Peryite drawing the fire of the turrets.

"Go!" He shouted. "I can handle my own world! You stop this madness!" He said, then dove straight towards a turret and knocked it down. LN launched towards Dagon's Grand Palace.

He landed with a shockwave. He was on the roof of the Grand Palace, newly remade. It was a threatening sight. A massive spike jutting out of the land. A Dremora nodded to him and kept walking, and LN saw thousands of lesser Daedra building massive engines of war, sending them through Oblivion Gates to pocket realms where they would attack Tamriel from.

He heard a roar, and turned. Mehrunes Dagon roared at him. LN saw that any attempt at negotiation would be pointless, so he jumped aside as the massive axe left a huge gash in the roof. LN tried to fly again, but couldn't. With Dagon standing so close, the gravity well of the planet began to get stronger. The lesser Daedra began to be crushed alive, and LN began to feel the strain as well. LN cast a quick frost spell at the axe, and it shattered when the next blow landed. Dagon roared again and the gravity became astonishingly light. LN flew off as soon as he could, but several flying creatures followed him.

These insectoid Daedra chased him through the stars. He dodged around Peryite's Fragment, bringing the flyers into the path of the destructive magic. In a snap decision, he dove straight for the Shivering Isles. He erected a heat barrier, and managed to pass through the atmosphere unharmed. The flyers were not so lucky, and burnt to ashes. As he was laughing, LN turned and in the last second before he hit the ground in front of the walls of New Sheoth thought "FUCKBERRIES!"


	20. Space Odyssey Aftermath

I, Eternity

Space Odyssey Aftermath

LN's eyes opened slowly, fitfully. The glare of the lights were hard to bear. His head throbbed with pain as the memory of his adventure in space played back in his brain. Then he heard a shrieking, inhuman laughter, filled with malicious mirth.

"So, you've finally reached the place you belong." Sheogorath said, joyously. Then, in a distinctly threatening voice, said: "Welcome to the Madhouse, mortal."

LN's eyes shot fully open. Around him were many people, all familiar.

"Let's see, mild bipolar, near-total long-term amnesia, berserker rages, blood drinking, and the balls to fly through outer space directly to Mehrunes Dagon's floating rock. Sounds like you full well belong to Me. Lock, stock and barrel."

LN bared his teeth and lunged at the Daedra Prince. "I belong to no one!" he roared as he leapt. He passed right through the Prince, then was thrown headfirst into a wall that materialized from nowhere.

"Ah ah ah! Nope! That'll not be fitting here. My Realm, My Rules. Humph. 'Rules…'" He spat. "Well, everywhere has a few. The difference here is that they change to fit My will. For example, up is down." He said, and LN launched off the ground he had crumpled onto and landed painfully on the ceiling.

"Enough with the slamming, just tell me what's going on." LN groaned.

"Ah. Well, you're here. And Here is the Isles. Those belong to me. Well, for now. But I have a plan for that. So sit tight and listen to my little game."

LN sat up as he materialized on the floor again.

"Ah, now don't you feel better now? All relaxed and open-headed. Or minded. Whatever. One word from Me and they'd be the same." Sheogorath chimed, then laughed again, a high-pitched grating noise.

"My little game is simple. You are Mine. You are totally mad. You belong in the Isles, but you have other things to do. So I'm gonna make you talk to some other folks you know. Most of the people you've met belong here. Now either they break you, or you get out alive. But I think you won't be having all the fun. They need to play too. So I made a very nice place for you to run this maze in."

With a wave of the cane, Sheogorath whisked them to a large, Ayleidic estate. LN fell to his knees and growled.

"Looks familiar, doesn't it?" Sheogorath hissed. "Where so much good and evil happened to your unnatural life. Well, the ones you left alive to limp out of the bloody wake of your pathetic attempt at existence are all I there. They all want to see you. Pathetic little you."

Sheogorath took out his stopwatch. "The rules are this. You live, and you aren't a jibbering mess, by the end of the game, you get to go back home. Same moment of the same night you left. Otherwise, the inmates of my little asylum get to have their way with your bloodied remains. Well. I must be going. The game ends at midnight, and I have a Champion to boss around. Ta! I hope you have a wonderful reunion!:

Then the shrieking cackle as a figure opened the door and stepped out to greet LN.


	21. Madhouse

I, Eternity

Madhouse

"Well, well!" The figure said, smiling. "I hadn't thought to see you again. Looks like that nutty Daedra came through for us." He laughed, a low, grating sound that felt like a whetstone rubbing against the bones of LN's inner ear. "Aren't we just good enough to eat! Look at that nice set of armor, you must have got that after you knew me."

"Who are you?" LN said. The man was a small human, of no the Breton race, both his eyes were bloodshot and beaten-looking.

"Ah, Sheogorath laid out some rules for our game. He told us that you don't remember much about your life. So, what we'll do is remind you of what you did."

"Why do I not like that much?" LN asked himself.

The small man answered anyway. "Because you've done some nasty things, my dear amnesiac night crawler. So what Sheggy thinks is that if you were to see some of them then you'd be so overcome with remorse you'll be His completely, never to leave."

They entered a large anteroom, it seemed to be a feast hall of some type. There was a massive table with several long-rotten dishes drawing flies on it. At the center was a tall, fat man who had been crucified, then cut open. His intestines hung out and the maggots were crawling through them. After a moment, his eyes opened and LN saw with horror that it was a vampire. Despite his figure, his face was gaunt and grey.

_It was so long ago, after the war. LN had been a vampire without a guide, still too young to either comprehend or control his power. He had been taken in by that one, Grigori, who was the first blood child of Lamae. _

_Many great adventures they shared, all the hunting grounds of ancient Cyrod had been theirs for the taking, many of their kind similarly young and teacher-less as he was. _

_For the first time in years, he'd had a father. Grigori taught him how to stalk prey. How to deal with his rage at what had happened. For two years the man had taught him, until the great split. _

_It had been LN's idea. _

"You!" Grigori hissed. "Betrayer!"

"No." LN said. "You were the traitor."

"I?" Grigori shouted. "You dare accuse me of treason? I was the law among vampires! It was I who declared the hunting grounds! I who held the True Blood!"

"You who let countless of us starve for no reason better than that they swore loyalty to each other."

"As if they deserved anything! If they had bowed to my rule, vampire kind would be united now!"

"United without any free will." LN said. "I split from you and your selfishness when I saw you for what you were. I couldn't live with myself if I had stayed and pretended to myself that you were right. A man's loyalties should not determine whether he is to live or die."

At this, Grigori sputtered and what little blood was not crusting the floor and table under him rushed to his face. LN walked past him as he began to shout obscenities. It had been painful to remember that, but he felt lighter. He had confronted his decision to be honest with himself, and had stuck by it, and now more than he had even before he lost his memory he knew he was right.

LN's companion laughed. "Well done my friend! But he was the first of the group. The rest may not be so docile."

They opened the big door into what seemed like an inner courtyard. However, instead of flowers or trees, it was filled with exotic mushrooms. In the center, sitting on a bench, was a Dunmer. He seemed young, and was chewing thoughtfully on a mushroom as he brushed up his Mohawk. His chapped skin revealed him as full Ashland Dark Elf.

"Ah, hello" He said. "I believe we met long ago."

LN remembered it.

_Morrowind. Its air was hot and dry. Light breezes blew small clouds of dust down the valley. LN walked in the clear moonlight to his rendezvous. Before he reached it, he had been distracted by a commotion off to the side. It was in a cave, he heard the squeals of a hungry creature, very small. He entered, and found, to his astonishment, a baby dragon. It squealed among the pieces of it's eggshell, next to the rotting body of it's mother. One glance showed LN that it had starved to death. _

_He had a little food in his pack, not for himself but for the upcoming journey. He knew that he couldn't let the creature starve here. He gave it some hound meat, and it chirped affectionately. He began to leave the cave, and it followed him. He reached his rendezvous with it sleeping in his arms. _

_"What's that?" The Dunmer, Relas, asked. "By the gods, is that a Dragon?!"_

_"Yes." LN said. "I found it next to its dead mother. I couldn't just let it die."_

"Of course, it ate more food than we could give it." Relas said. "So we picked the mushrooms to avoid starving ourselves. You're a vampire, you don't get addicted to things like we do. So I got hooked, you didn't."

"And I was supposed to just leave it to die in the wastes?" LN said. "Yes, it was my fault that you started the mushrooms, but I also tried to help you stop. It was your choice to continue."

"I wouldn't have had to if it wasn't for you."

"You are blaming me for saving the life of a living thing, then trying to help you after my mistake showed itself. It's a fools errand."

Relas cocked his head. "I suppose you're right. The irony is, if my mind hadn't been expanded by shrooms, I wouldn't be open enough to forgive you."

"My my my!" LN's companion interjected. "Two for two! It seems you're sure of yourself. Well, I doubt that will last much longer."

"Stuff yourself." LN said as he opened the door to the kitchens.

The next room smelled rank. It was covered in a whitish-grey slime that was congealing to a solid in several places. A moving mass of the grey-white jelly opened it's eyes and spoke.

"You twat." It said. "You dare to come here and defile my ultimate presence with your filthy dedication to the Wrong?"

LN clenched his fists. This memory was so powerful, and so angering, that he nearly lost control amid the laughter of his companion.

_He sheathed the bloodsoaked sword. The undead had all fallen, and with a wave of his hand, he made a wave of fire burst from him, ensuring they would all stay down. _

_The local Ra Gada, fresh from Yokuda, had attempted to pay him to do this, but after seeing the devastation this being had wrought, he was doing this for pleasure alone. The sight of that Ra Gada woman, ravaged, beaten, and brutally killed, had been what did it._

_He climbed the stairs, then levitated up the tower as it seemed to change from stone to the organic filth emitted by the foul Sload body. In Morrowind, their drippings were collected and used as soap, but LN would rather just not bathe, or to use some of the abrasive, pungent plants of his native Cyrod. As he reached the top, the creature belched fire at him. He erected a barrier, then retaliated with lightning, which was reflected and hit the wall. _

_"You dare to soil the presence of the epitome of all beings? Before I crush you like the insignificant speck you and all the others are, I demand you indulge my curiosity. Why have you come here, Inferior Being? As the Ultimate Pinnacle of All Living Things, I demand it."_

_"You are the ultimate pile of arrogant, disgusting goo. I came here because of the destruction you've unleashed upon the innocent." LN responded._

_"Those Inferior Beings were of no use to me. As such, their loss is insignificant."_

_"You sicken me, you piece of filth."_

_"You dare to call me filth? You dare to insinuate life has meaning beyond it's utility to me?" The Sload gurgled._

_"You dare to say that a living thing is to be judged based on how well it can serve you? In that case, I am the most useless thing in the Aurbis, because I'm about to undo you!"_

_LN dashed forward, and the Sload shot more flames out of it's grubby "hands." LN shot ice so cold, reflecting the coldness of his own hatred for such arrogance, he literally stopped the flames dead in the air. He grabbed at the quivering mass of flesh, and absorbed it's magicka with a powerful spell._

_**"NO!"** He screamed as his power drained away. "This is impossible! I am the holder of all Truth! How could one so dedicated to being wrong do this to me?!"_

_"I'm not gonna kill you, I'll do something even worse!" LN said, "I'll take your power, and you can learn what it's like to be an average person. Now get off your pedestal you fat piece of Guar shit!_

"You defied what is obviously true: That all that I say and think is unquestionably and undeniably right, that my knowledge is self-evident and requires no proof." The Sload gurgled in his hideous, self-righteous way.

"After being drained of your material power, you still know absolutely nothing. The very nature of the mind is that it seeks truth, and that that truth is only what matters to the one who seeks it. To a peasant farmer, the truth is that if he grows enough food, he will live. To me, the truth is that life has meaning, no matter how useless it may be to me. And as much as I'd like to, it's that very philosophy that's keeping me from killing you." LN said, then hawked and spat a dark mass of phlegm at the Sload.

He exited the kitchen as the Sload declared his own irrefutable Rightness in all things, still having learned nothing. He shook with anger. The encounter, though gratifying, had worn on him. He had wanted so desperately to attack the creature. But still, in the coldness of his rage he felt a glimmer of warmth. He had not sunk to the level of that foul thing.

"Ah ha ha he ha hoo ha!" The companion mock-laughed. "Well, you seem to have come through that nicely." He said. "However, the game's just begun. I know Sheogorath said midnight, but Time is what He wants it to be here. And I think you've earned a hint at how the game is played. It will only end if Sheogorath deems you ready, not a second before. But it seems we've come to milady's boudoir." He laughed.

LN entered the room, it was decorated in a dark, gothic style. The candles glowed black, and on the bed sat a woman in black leather armor. LN found this memory bitter.

_"No more." LN said. "Not after this."_

_"I did it for you!" She cried, reaching out to him with bloody hands. "Now the world can be your hunting grounds! No government or oppressive laws to hold you back!"_

_"That's not how I operate!" LN shouted. "I kill when I must, and I hate myself for it. What you've done will turn the world into a sea of blood!"_

_"Please, I love you!" She said. "Killing the Potentate was how I'd make us a world of our own…" She said, tears down her cheeks now._

_"Get out of my sight." LN grunted, turning away from her. He, too, was sad. In his stone-cold heart, he did feel a little affection for the woman, the Night Mother. He couldn't live with the thought of her after this. She had taken the world he had done so much manipulation to create and destroyed it with a single dagger-stroke._

"You left me." She said.

"You were a murderess." LN said, gently. "I couldn't bear the sight of you, not because of what you'd done though."

"What?" She said, her big eyes still as vivacious as he remembered them. "Then why?"

"Because it was my fault." LN said. "If it wasn't for what I was, you would never have learned the arts of stealth. You would never have become what you became, but for me."

She just looked at him, stunned.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I was weak."

She stood up. She walked over and hugged him, sobbing onto his armor. "No, if it wasn't you, it would have been someone else." She said. "Even before I met you, the guildsmen my father knew said I was a natural."

Suddenly, she was bathed in blue light. LN wasn't sure what was happening.

"This is the closure I needed," She said. "I'm no longer obsessed with the events of that night. I no longer have need to be here."

With that, she disappeared from the Isles forever.

LN left the room and his companion smiled, using a mocking voice to imitate the things she'd said to him.

_"_Shut up." LN said as he entered the final room.

It was the huge hall couldn't quite remember. The mounted Dragon head, though, he could.

"Well, it's time for your final test." His companion said. "The living being you hate more than anything else. Will you put me out of my misery, like the animal I am?"

"I remember you now." LN snarled.

_This wizard had become problematic. His power was mind-bogglingly great, to the point where he had created a mountain to build his fortress on, then made it explode with all manner of plants for his alchemy, and erected an all-but-impenetrable barrier around it. There was only one thing LN could do, and he did it._

_He called the Dragon whose life he had saved. _

_It flew around the barrier, then struck at critical points with it's fire. Its green and blue scales blended with much of the foliage on the artificial mountain, so LN could only occasionally see it. But finally, the barrier seemed to turn to a solid mass and shatter. As soon as it did, LN ran in, charging through hallway after hallway, slaughtering summoned Daedra servants until he came to the courtyard. The Dragon was keeping the wizard busy. Launching flames at him. _

_"Surrender." LN said. The Dragon let up his flames. "There are two of us, and one of you. If you come with us, you need not be harmed."_

_The wizard laughed. "It seems you underestimate the power of magic!" He said. "For example…" _

_He snapped his fingers and three rings of light appeared around the Dragon, then bored into it's head. The Dragon gripped it's skull and wailed. _

_"Ha ha ha! Now, you can spend some quality time together. I think you'll find my spell is quite unbreakable. Good morrow!" _

_With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_The Dragon raised it's head toward LN, and snarled. It's eyes, far from their noble gold, were a sick shade of brownish-red. _

_"No." LN whispered. _

_The Dragon roared and charged at him. LN jumped over him and onto his back. He shot a probe into the Dragon's mind. It shot back, useless. The Dragon's mind was totally covered with magic. _

_It slammed into the wall, knocking LN off. LN landed on his feet, sliding, then ran at the dragon. He tried a shallow cut on it's leg, to see if a jolt of pain could bring his friend back. It shrieked, and blew fire at him. He put up a barrier, and deflected it. He shot a blast of concussive force from his hands, hoping to stun it. He failed, and it ran at him again. This time, it head butted him hard into the opposite wall. He rushed at it, and kicked it in the snout. _

_"I know you're in there." he said, landing. "Please, here my voice and come back."_

_"Please." It said in LN's mind. "The spell truly is unbreakable. I cannot stand a life in servitude. Destroy me, and free my soul."_

_LN put away his sword as the dragon blew smoke. "I will not kill you. You can break this."_

_The dragon charged again. LN was so conflicted. In his heart, he knew that he could do nothing. Before the Dragon reached him, he jumped to the side, drew his sword…_

_"_You made me behead him" LN said.

"Yes. With his last thought, he shot back at me." the wizard said. "I lost all of my power defending myself from the psychic onslaught. Now I kneel before you, powerless and defenseless, and I allow you to kill me. To take all your ideals about sanctity of life and bury them, only for a moment, as you did long ago, and kill me."

LN raised his sword, and brought it down. It landed with a dull _thunk_ next to the wizard.

"You already have to live here, a weakling and a nobody." LN said. "I won't kill you."

"HA HA HA HA HA!" Echoed the laugh. Sheogorath appeared behind LN.

"My dear nut job, you did it." He said.

'What?"

"That's it. You've won. Now, let's have a walk-n'-talk for a moment."

Sheogorath whisked them to the courtyard of his Palace in New Sheoth.

"Let's review your score. Zero body count, and you helped the hot one out with her obsession. A pretty good rap sheet." Sheogorath said.

"I think you said I could go back if I succeeded?"

"Yes, but you need to be told one last thing about why I moved the Isles to where you'd land in them."

"Why?"

"Because you need to have no regrets. Soon enough, you'll be in hot water very frequently. Many situations will test you to your limits. You were on the cusp of remembering the Second Era, so I brought you here, to face the memories head-on. If you succeeded, you could do as you were needed until you got the next batch. If you failed, you wouldn't have been much help to anyone anyway."

"Ah." LN said.

"Well, one interdimentional portal coming up. This might tickle."

Sheogorath spun his cane, and LN fell through a wormhole in the ground, appearing back in his corporeal form in Malendil's basement.


	22. Reality ReAdjustments

_**Author's Note:** Hi folks. Just feel the need to tell you that progress may be slow for a while. My computer finally collapsed on itself, deleting all my stories (including the ones I could and wanted to publish) that were located in it. I, stupidly, didn't back them up, so it's starting from scratch. Obviously, pieces of some of my stuff are here on this site, but I have a lot of rebuilding to do. But you were expecting a show, so I figured I'd start my new game up with a chapter here. Enjoy it._

I, Eternity

Reality Re-Adjustments

LN popped himself awake in Malendil's basement. It was high time to get things moving again, and, revitalized after having confronted the worst in himself, figured he knew how to do it.

He made some quick factorings. He knew that, in his feral days, he stayed in Count Hassildor's castle in Skingrad. He knew the chances of the Count not being aware of him were virtually nothing, likewise the knowledge of the condition he had had at the time. Putting two and two together, he determined that the Count was an ally, and a valuable one.

So, leaving quickly the same night he had left and returned from the Madhouse, he did a full-scale, long distance sprint, enjoying the power flooding his body as he remembered old tricks and techniques from his bygone days. The ancient spells, lost to many mages of the modern world, filtered through his memory, being filed away into scenarios where each might prove useful, and also possible sources of where they had been learned.

After a surprisingly short time, he came to Skingrad. He scaled the walls to the castle easily, following the energy signature of another vampire. He sensed only one, and it was far more than his former companion could have ever hoped to have become.

Janus sat with his back to the window LN used. As soon as LN set foot on the carpet, he was assaulted by a magic barrier.

"Pro-active barriers? Don't you give your guests a chance to say hello?" LN asked, before effortlessly shattering it.

'So you're back." Janus said. "I heard you were working with Malendil.

"It's my night job." LN joked. "By day I'm a psychotic showman."

"You were since the day I met you, a hundred years ago."

"Well, one does what one can." LN said, with a mock dramatic bow. "I just figured it was time to get things moving again. I bet you've seen the kid?"

Janus slowly nodded. "What's your interest?"

"I just have a good feeling." LN said. "I think he's definitely got something I've been looking for."

"Well, there have also been sightings of a werewolf in human form asking questions about the Mythic Dawn and the assassinations. I think you might want to check him."

"Consider it checked." LN said, before snapping his fingers and moving himself to an inter-dimensional nexus. In this place, he felt so free. With a thought he could be anywhere. He knew how unstable it was, however, so didn't dally. He moved himself to the Imperial Sewers, one room off from where a street thug was being interrogated by an angry Nord.

LN walked in and chimed, "You'll get nowhere like that. A skooma peddler wouldn't know about the things we're after."

The Nord turned, threw the thug to the ground violently, and let out a growl, drawing his swords. "I don't know what you want, but it's definitely a bad idea to cross me."

"I think we'll have to test that, Nerevar." LN said, drawing his own blade. "Let's see what a hero you are."

The Nord lunged, letting out a bark. LN guarded the fiery blade easily, then dodged aside the lightning sword. He flicked a spell at the Nord, who effortlessly absorbed it, then shot it back tenfold. LN staggered under the weight of the spell, but managed to stop it.

"Not bad." LN grunted. "Let's see how you handle these."

LN raised his hands and created several black holes in the air around the Nord. The several gravity wells consecutively drawing him in should have torn him to shreds in an instant.

It didn't.

The Nord burst with energy, causing the Holes to collapse on themselves. Snarling viciously, he jumped at LN again.

LN raised a hand and stopped him midair, effortlessly.

"Well, doggie, looks like you've got some fight in you." LN chirped.

"What do you want?" The Nord snarled. "How do you know I'm Nerevar?"

"All in the walk, friend. I'm going to let you down now, and we'll have a nice chat about the Mythic Dawn."

LN let down the Nord. "Well, what's you're name in this life?"

"Jongard." The Nord replied. "What's yours?"

LN laughed bitterly. "Of all my memories, I look forward most to getting that one."

"Your… memories?" Jongard asked, somewhat relaxing.

"It's a long story. But I had total amnesia for a while. I guess for now, you can call me LN, pleaser of undead crowds the world over."

"Well, what do we know?"

They quickly swapped what little information they had.

"All we really know is that we know too little," Jongard said, "But by now Octavian may have found something more."

"Well, let's find out." LN said. "One of the tricks I've learned recently is how to look where I shouldn't be:"

LN's hand lit up with white energy, and a large window in space opened up before them.

Jongard staggered. "I've never felt such power since…" His eyes widened. "Since I rent Shor's heart from it's prison!"

"So that's what that is?" LN said, "uh-oh. Looks like we have bigger problems."

Octavian was in a cave, surrounded by cultists. He was lying on the ground, stunned after a fall.

"Get me over there! We can't let him die!" Jongard shouted.

"Done!" LN said, and as he snapped his fingers, he saw Jongard appear in his vision, beginning to slice the cultists to pieces. LN chuckled as he closed the magic screen. THAT was how to get things moving!


	23. What A Show That Would Be!

I, Eternity

What a Show That Would Be!

As LN walked back at a much more leisurely pace, he got a sense that he was being followed. So he turned to a random direction and began to walk without any destination. As he came up into the streets of the Imperial City, in the Elven Gardens district, he began to feel more and more of them. Human, for the most part, but infringed with something more, as though their natural essences had been forcibly stripped bare and replaced with something distinctly unnatural.

He turned into an alley to await their arrival, and it came very quickly.

The image of an Elf flickered before his eyes. His fists clenched on instinct, something about this not-quite-Altmer's ghostly visage drove him half-mad with rage.

"I am Mankar Camoran," he said, "I apologise not being able to meet you in person, but it was necessary to transport myself to a much more suitable base of operations until the world has been cleansed."

"Tell me what you want." LN snarled.

"I want you to join me. Surely someone as powerful as yourself must understand that it is the place of the strong to shepherd the weak into suitable members of society."

"What kind of society?"

"One where all things are a perfect order, where those who cannot fight work to sustain the mighty, and the mighty are given their proper place."

"A tempting offer," LN hissed, "but that sounds a bit too much like tyranny and enslavement to me."

"Very well." Mankar sighed, "You could have been great. Raven, kill him."

LN drew his sword as the shadows melted away to reveal several cultists. Up close LN could sense the anomaly: their mortality had been replaced with Daedric regeneration.

Raven lunged at him, a murder of black birds flowing from his screaming mouth attempting to smother LN. LN sent out a shockwave that made the birds pop in little explosions of gore. Then he ran at Raven and impaled him.

Raven simply laughed. He disintegrated and re-formed yards away. As LN cut down the other cultists the same thing happened: they could not be killed.

LN was durable, but his stamina was finite, particularly after dawn, which was fast approaching. He needed a different tack. He slowly stalked in a circle around Raven and the other cultists.

"So, you all want to remake the world in that old nut's image." LN taunted. One cultist ran forward, and was promptly killed. As he re-formed he snarled.

"Also, you allowed yourself to be cursed with true immortality."

This time, Raven put out a halting hand. "My Father's immortality is a gift from Mehrunes Dagon."

"Dagon has never been one for subtlety. Is that why he's using your father as a pawn?"

Raven jumped forward, belching birds again. This time, LN used the rage to his advantage, tripping Raven. During the precious seconds it took for Raven to rise, LN had jumped onto a roof and begun to sprint, the opposite direction from Malendil's house.

The cultists all gave chase on clouds of the evil birds. They began to shoot magic projectiles, similar to his own black holes, but of pure anti-magic. LN dodged them as best he could, feeling some of his power seep away as they approached. These were powerful absorption spells. The black-and-red balls of power sailed lazily through the air, and began to follow his own aura.

"Fuckberries!" LN shouted as he ran. He jumped the walls to the Arcane University and sidestepped one projectile, which bore into the walls of the enchanting center.

The others began to sift into areas of powerful magic. While it let LN off the hook, the powers of the casters were multiplied.

"What a show this will be!" LN said, steeling himself, "the final fight of a Vampire Ancient!"

As he readied himself for death, a burst of pure white light dispelled the remaining projectiles. An old man in a vibrant blue robe stepped forth with two freakishly powerful staves and began chanting incantations. Lighting and fire coursed through the air around him and launched at LN's assailants. Immortal as they were, they wdid not relish repeated death. After the Arch-Mage killed them several times each, Raven shouted "Retreat! We'll kill him another day!" And with a crack, they all disappeared.

Arch-Mage Traven panted wearily. "I am certainly too old to be fighting in such a way any longer, I'll need a successor before long."

"Arch-Mage Traven." LN said.

"And you are Malendil's ace in the hole." Traven remarked, rubbing his weary eyes. "Dear me, I need some tea, and about twenty years wound back on the clocks."

"Thank you."

"Don't bother with that. It was as much for me as you. If the world ends, so to do I. Good day. I believe you had better find shelter."


	24. Shockwave from a God

I, Eternity

Shockwave from a God

Over the next several nights and beyond, losing all track of time, LN dove into minor adventuring. One night he was walking between two back streets when he felt like he was hit in the face by a wave of pure power. He stumbled to the ground, eyes wide.

"That's not funny…. That's not…" With that disoriented murmur, he shot upwards and jumped from roof to roof, leaping the walls of the imperial City effortlessly. He bolted to the source of the disturbance as a second, greater one joined it. He dodged between trees, jumped over vines, and was repeatedly battered by these inexplicably powerful shockwaves. They were coming from loosely near Skingrad.

As he burst into a clearing, he saw two titans to battle in the sky, one purest white, the other as black as the night sky. He snarled, as he saw who they were. The dark one was M'Razzar, more powerful than he had ever seen any one being. The second, fueled by inhuman rage, was Octavian. This fight was out of even LN's league.

They used magic the like of which he could never hope to duplicate. Every attack shook the very earth, birds and bats flew away in a panic as two beings that should never have been did battle above.

Octavian launched a massive beam of light at M'Razzar, which missed. It exploded in midair, shaking him up with it's aftershock. Octavian, almost too fast for LN to see, launched himself into physical confrontation with M'Razzar, who responded in kind. The confrontation was brief and brutal. M'Razzar was beaten to the ground by the sheer force of Octavian's rage, but in the split second Octavian was distracted, M'Razzar transported himself away. LN did the same when he saw the sun rising, appearing in Malendil's basement.

He considered carefully what he had just seen. Things were turning dire. On one side, there was the Oblivion crisis. He felt it every night, a quiet fear running down the spine of all he saw. No one knew of this except for powerful mages, but it seemed to be even more dangerous. M'Razzar was well and unstable at best, but LN knew he had to be very careful considering Octavian. He would definitely fight M'Razzar. Of that there was little doubt. But what of after? Such power was dangerous. He closed his eyes and tried to establish a psychic link with Janus.

As he reached out, he felt a scream in the fabric of his mind. His eyes shot open and he realized that Janus was dead.

"So, that's what set off the kid…" LN muttered.

He stood up. He needed to take stock of the situation. He waved his hand and saw.

In the screen of magic energy before him, LN saw Octavian and Jongard speaking to a man in a temple. As he listened in, he established that this was the heir to the Septim throne.

"Hmm… so it's not totally hopeless…" He said.

LN set out as soon as the sun went down. As he reached the arboretum, he felt Jongard's presence.

"Hey there doggie." He said. Jongard appeared from behind some bushes and nodded.

"I assume you know about Octavian?" Jongard asked.

LN nodded. "I need you to watch the kid for me. I'm worried he might do something hasty. We both know that that kind of power isn't supposed to be in one body."

"Yes." Jongard said simply. "For his sake and ours."

LN stayed silent. He knew that every second Octavian spent in that form was a second that he could accidentally overload and destroy himself, along with everything for miles around him.

"I'll mind him," Jongard said, "By the way, does the name Malendil ring a bell?"

LN nodded.

"He'll be coming to see her soon enough. Be ready to teach him what you think he needs to know to keep himself from dying."

"Understood. Now, we both have things to do. Good luck."

"You too."

Jongard warped away using a recall spell. LN began to walk around, inspecting, as he had been, to ensure that Mythic Dawn agents didn't cause trouble. He widened his sense to include vampires as well, just to be safe. In the back of his head, he knew it would be a long night.


	25. Kooky Old Man: Another Look

I, Eternity

Kooky Old Man: Another Look

LN continued, night after night, to patrol the streets of the Imperial City. He again lost track of how many nights, losing himself in the dull monotony. Aside from his self-imposed duties, he would also stop any other crimes he could, like robberies or murders or rapes.

One night, he began to feel a tremor. It was soft at first, like an echo of the night Octavian became a god. He walked towards it. He opened a psychic link with Malendil.

"Hey, the kid's around." he told her, "I'll bring him to your place."

"Be gentle." Malendil said, closing the link.

LN found him in the Waterfront, close enough to Malendil's place. The tremors shook LN to the very soul of his being, they were so unlike any natural phenomena in his regained memories. He doubted they were in any of his still-hidden ones either.

LN summoned a knife and held it to his back. "Well, found you at last."

What happened next was probably an accident. A focused tremor hit him hard, so LN lashed out and hit Octavian on the head.

"Dammit." He thought. He realized it was probably just what happened to everyone he focused on, but only LN had power enough to feel it. He picked up Octavian and carried him to Malendil's, and she tended the bad case of caved-in-skull that Octavian was suffering from.

Within an hour, Octavian's skull had de-powderized and reformed itself. He then woke up as Malendil scolded LN.

"Good, you're awake. I'm sorry about my colleague here. He's a bit twitchy." Malendil said, shooting LN a look.

LN grinned." Yeah, it's almost a problem." He said. He was sorry, but it was Malendil's conversation still.

"You probably know who we are, and we definitely know who you are. So, I'll leave you alone to do what has to be done." Malendil said.

LN leaned back, still smiling as Malendil left the room. "So, mini-god, what to do with you?"

"I don't know. I was looking for you guys to ask for help." Octavian said.

"Hell, you really need it don't you?" LN quipped. He gave a quick look. Octavian was a warrior, but he was obviously inclined to magic anyway. LN wasn't surprised. Many warriors, insecure in the strength of their bodies, took up magic as a crutch.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

LN saw exactly the lesson that needed teaching. He sped behind Octavian and held a knife to his throat. "That's what I mean. get your ass up!" He said, kicking Octavian off the couch. Octavian slowly ambled up, clumsily. He was not secure in the strength of his own body at all, formidable though it was.

"Okay, so you're a god. Big deal. Come at me with those pretty knives." LN said, drawing his sword. Octavian charged, and LN dodged easily.

"Been a long time since you fought someone who wasn't years behind you, eh kid?"

"No, you're just a small target. I'm used to things like Daedroth and Spider Daedra." Octavian said. He fell back on sarcasm when he felt he was losing. Intended to bother and distract. Effective against beginners, but just a waste of energy against veteran warriors.

"Shut it, kid!" LN said, giving Octavian a fierce kick.

"What's with you and kicking, old man?" He groaned.

"Okay, you shut up and listen for a sec, kid. I know that's new to you, but I've got two things you need to know."

"Go ahead." Octavian groaned. LN took note that a quick defeat totally and swiftly would demoralize him.

"M'Razzar is always gonna be the more powerful god. There isn't a damn thing you can do. Don't even bother with that."

"So you're telling me that I can't beat M'Razzar, and should let the world be destroyed?" Octavian grunted. He seemed close-minded to any plans but his own, fairly simple ones. LN was losing patience with this child-god the entire universe depended on.

"Shut up and LISTEN!" He yelled so loud Octavian's ears started bleeding. "But look at what just happened. Tell me what you just experienced."

"I just got trounced by a midget." Still making remarks. He couldn't help it. It seemed he was somewhat single-minded and headstrong. Good traits in the right situations.

"I'm not quite a midget, actually. More like Bosmer-height. But yes, now out of us two you are obviously the more powerful god, correct?"

"Yeah, but I don't follow you."

"Because you're the less powerful man. Without even knowing, you've already come to rely on your magic. However, you try to keep doing human things, like walking and fighting. If this had been a magic fight, I'd be dead. Do you see what you need to do?" LN asked.

"No, I still don't get it." Octavian said, sitting up.

"Gods, you heroes today are so damn STUPID! Do you expect EVERYONE to hold your hand!?" he yelled. "M'Razzar does nothing now without his magic. If you can find a way to bypass it and force him into physical confrontation, then you can kill him. That is if you're not as stupid as you look and stop with the magic unless it's an absolute emergency." LN snarled. Too many heroes were just the strongmen. A hero with this kind of power was dangerous without control or a degree of intelligence.

'Oh! Now I get it."

"NO SHIT, FUCKHEAD!" He bellowed.

"Okay, okay, sorry! What is that, a fucking Thu'um?" Octavian asked.

"No, I just yell real loud." He replied, before tossing Octavian out. Malendil entered immediately after.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" she asked.

"I believe we are…" LN said, contemplatively.


	26. Getting Hands Dirty

I, Eternity

Getting Hands Dirty

It wasn't a very long wait between the two different events. It seemed that one night LN was giving advice to Octavian, and the next he was needed again. Because he was. No sooner had Octavian returned than he received a psychic message from Jongard, telling him to gather the vampires. It was time to fight to the death.

LN teleported as many as he could. He sprinted towards the battlefield. It was a dire situation. The Imperial army was a bleeding, dying hodgepodge of guards and militiamen before the horde of Daedra. LN sprung into action just before what would have been the final blow, deflecting the arrows with a thousand magical blades.

"Never have a party without adult supervision!" he said. "See? Someone could put you eye out with these things!" He then launched himself to battle.

It had been so long. He had known battle for all his life, but war was something different from battle. War, he felt in his bones, the desire, the euphoria of a war unremembered. He was War once, and he would be War again. His tattoos and eyes glowed for the brief instant that he allowed War to sweep through every fiber of his being, then LN took control of his own body again, energized for what needed to be done.

As Octavian sprinted into the gate, so did he, along with Jongard and a woman. As he looked at the siege engine, the massing armies of Dremora in the distance, he felt War pulse through his veins again.

"Use that power, kid!" LN said. "It won't screw you up here! Transform!"

"I can't control that! I need to react to a Divine Sphere!" Octavian shouted.

"Damn you STUPID KIDS!" And with no time to lose, LN threw the woman at Octavian. He let them do what needed to be done.

Cut a path for us kid, you two can work this out later." LN grunted.

Jongard barked in agreement.

_"Okay. I'll cut a path. One of you grab the Stone." _Octavian said, unfurling his wings with a cry.

"What a punk." LN griped, then ran into a nearby watchtower with the other two at his heels. They ran through, War craving it's bloodlust be satisfied. LN went first, slaughtering any Daedra which stood before him. He began to breathe heavily and erratically as war demanded a higher and higher toll. Before he truly overextended himself, they came out to the Sigil Tower.

"Let's go. We need to get at that Sigil Stone before that thing gets too much further." LN said. They ran into the Tower and up the ramps, through room after room. The Tower was quiet, most of the guards were distracted by Octavian. LN's breathing leveled off, as war began to filter out of his consciousness.

"What a rush!" he exalted. "I haven't fought a war for a very long time."

They reached the Sigil Chamber, and LN grabbed the Stone. Then the entier realm began to shake.

"Fuckberries!" LN shouted. "This looks bad!" He grabbed Jongard and the Woman by the waists, and jumped out of the tower.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" The woman shouted at him as they fell.

LN landed evenly, and saw the white glow in the sky begin to flicker and fade.

"Double Fuckberries!" He yelled, and charged toward it. He saw Octavian begin to drop like a rock, assuming his more human-like form against his will. LN needed to time it perfectly right. Too fast, and he'd swing right under him. Too slow, and he'd get to watch the most unpleasant landing in history.

Just before Octavian hit the ground, LN swept under him, grabbing him by the straps of his chest plate, and flung out of the Realm before it collapsed.

With a remark, LN left Octavian and the woman to do their business. He approached the man in Royal armor.

"So you must be the new boss-man." LN said.

"Yes, I am." He said. "I am Martin Septim."

"You're little Champion did good." LN said, "And I think we got something you wanted."

He showed Martin the Stone. "Now, I think I want to make a deal with you."

"What?" Martin asked. "The whole world is crumbling and you want to bargain?"

"Nothing time-wasting." LN said. "In your regime, I'd like to see my kind get a nicer hand dealt to us."

"Very well. Now give me the Stone!"

LN handed it over casually. "Alright then. Some of my kind will stay to help with what you need to do."

Ln then walked over to where Octavian and the woman were talking.

"Oi! Kid!" He shouted.

"What? It's not that good a time for this." Octavian yelled back.

"You two can do that stuff lovers do inside. It's so cold out here she won't enjoy it anyway!" LN shouted back. He was feeling giddy from his experiences in the war.

"Damn, what's with you?" Octavian asked as his woman laughed. In response to that, he lightened up. "What is it?"

"I gave your boss the Sigil Stone. In return he said that he'd write up decrees immediately to give our kind some slack. So your pact with Janus is done." LN told him.

"How did you know about that?" Octavian asked.

"My pupils always keep in touch. Unless they die. Which he did." LN lied. In truth, he discovered it via accidental psychic discharge, but he didn't see the need to complicate Octavian's thoughts any more than he needed to. Octavian needed to be focused.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the oldest living thing outside of Argonia, kid. I'm over three thousand years old, and one of the three surviving members of Lamae the Bloodmatron's direct Clan." LN responded. He wasn't sure where that came from, but it sounded right. He figured it was probably a part of his still-filtering memories of the Second Era.

"You sound proud of that." Octavian said.

"Well, princes are proud to be the sons of Kings, aren't they?"

LN looked to the horizon. "Only an hour to get back to the Waterfront. That Malendil may not look like much at first glance, but she's a nut job in bed." He said with a wink. It wasn't something he actually knew. He and Malendil cared about each other as friends, but were not lovers. They both had too many memories for that kind of bond, but it was their explanation if people asked who they were. He then ran off. "Later kid!" he yelled.

He had an inkling of what would happen next. He would bide his time in the Imperial City, because some primordial thought told him that that was where M'Razzar would be ended.


	27. Worldbreaker

I, Eternity

Worldbreaker

LN spent the time, as he often had recently, out patrolling the streets by night. Things had been getting hairy recently. Since the assassinations, many people had become scared and desperate. He couldn't do all that much, but he did what little he could.

Then, as he knew would eventually happen, Oblivion came to the Imperial City.

The night started normally enough. LN started by walking out through the Elven gardens district. He could feel that something extremely bad would soon happen. So strong was the intuition, that even the usual petty thieves and night burglars were nowhere to be found. After a few hours, things started to turn nasty.

As always happened when Oblivion tore holes in the fabric of reality, the sky began to turn a fiery red. LN drew his sword as soon as the change began. He had seen the inside of Oblivion before, many times as he now remembered, and had also seen the areas surrounding it's openings. However, this was different.

Reality itself seemed to shimmer and blur in his magic-enhanced perceptions, as though it were one dream changing to another. Before his eyes, the stones of the City's roads burst, and plants from the planes of Oblivion began to burst through. Harrada encroached up the walls as Daedra poured over them from the Temple District. Bloodgrass tangled around LN's boots as he began to attack. The first wave comprised mostly of Spider Daedra and Atronach, particularly flame breeds.

LN used spells at first, but as reality continued to blur and distort around him, becoming more liquid and refracted by the second. LN knew this was quite literally taking place in his head: he had become so imbued with magic as to be dramatically effected by this melding of worlds.

His armor, already dented and scratched, began taking more damage as his addled state allowed for the Daedra attacks to land. What little effective protection was left absorbed some of the damage, but pain began mixing with LN's confusion. He knew he had to shake this off or he would die. He also knew that cutting himself off from all magic, however temporarily, would leave him vulnerable. Out of two bad options, he chose the lesser.

All the magic released itself from LN's body at once, vaporizing all nearby foes. The more distant ones closed in as LN's wits returned.

His tattoos itched, but he was alive. He readied his blade and prepared for a fight. A newly-arrived Dremora launched a fireball at him, he jumped aside. It exploded next to him, and the shockwave unsteadied his unaided body. The Dremora charged, and LN blocked, his body remembering the old techniques even if his mind still did not. He quickly pulled from the block and used the momentum to sever the Dremora's head. A Spider Daedra thrust with it's razor-sharp leg, and he knocked it aside, using the transferred force to spin himself around, cutting a Flame Atronach deeply. It fell to the ground, and like the Mythic Dawn cultists from before, reformed at a distance.

LN knew that, without his formidable powers, he wouldn't be able to win this fight the fair way. So he decided he'd cheat. He reached into his magic bag and pulled out a small white satchel.

"Catch!" he shouted to a Dremora as he threw it. The Dremora caught it and was blown to smithereens as the charge exploded. As the Daedra regrouped, LN broke into a run. He was readjusting to his more physical abilities, and gradually his power began to filter back, more clearly than when it was shaken by the shift.

Almost as suddenly as the beginning of this massive invasion, did it finally come to an end. From nowhere a massive burst of noise and light, LN watched with awe as a massive Dragon tore through the sky, a void empty enough to swallow all the stars that float through Oblivion hanging in His chest. It dove down, and there was another massive explosion, and all of the forms of Oblivion, the creatures, the invasive plants, and even the shimmers in LN's vision, became as dust and returned to their own plane.

However, the battle was not over yet. Almost as soon as the sky returned to it's inky black self, it turned an even more disturbing shade of red, with streaks of pink, blue, and other fleshy colors. As blood began falling from the sky, LN saw a massive creature slither around White-Gold Tower. Knowing that the time had come, he ran towards it, now fully in control of his own power again.

LN dashed up the side of the Tower, and came over the edge just in time. Once again he grabbed Octavian from the jaws of death, just as Jongard also finished scaling the wall. They attacked M'Razzar together, brutally and without mercy.

The horrible, hulking form was frail and weak for all it's magical power. M'Razzar would quickly expend himself for a killing blow if he thought it would land. After a few moments to gauge his strength, LN leapt down, casting a physical barrier over himself. M'Razzar saw this as a mistake, and didn't notice the absorption spell LN cast under it. As he expected, M'Razzar cast a massive spell on him. The shield was, as predicted, useless. However, all of the divine power flooded into LN, expanding his senses to a point beyond human comprehension. For a second, LN debated keeping the power to himself, but knew that he had a job to do.

Taking all the power and welling it up before him, he added his own and redirected it at M'Razzar full force. The pulse of pure divine energy stripped away the divinity, the vampirism, all of the pretense surrounding what M'Razzar truly was.

A Khajiit, weak and weary, lay before them.

"So it ends." LN said, crouching over M'Razzar's still living form. "Octavian, it must be you and I together."

Octavian walked forward, sword in hand, caked with blood of all manners, tired beyond measure. On M'Razzar's forehead lay the gem that had been crafted specifically for him, that held the soul of a human being and still kept this frail form alive.

"Father…" M'Razzar managed to mutter. "Someday… forgive me."

"You already are. But, as I killed my own lover, as I have killed all my sons, this must be done." LN said. "It is time. Go in peace, my son, by the hand of your father and his grandson."

LN and Octavian thrust down simultaneously. If there was a sound, LN could not hear it over his profound sadness. Now, not one of his progeny survived. He was alone again.

The shards of M'Razzar's magical Stone, a compliment to Octavian's own, flew around and shot into Octavian's hand.

Something stirred, both behind the group, and deep in LN's memories. It was so far away, so dimly acknowledged after all the emotions passed through his mind, that he didn't register just how significant it was.

The Tower's activation panel had appeared. The words "ACTIVATION CODE 21334231, LINK MODULE PRESENT, INSERT POWER SOURCE…." played across the blue screen. A panel opened and a handprint was revealed, as was a red button.

"The Tower Switch!" LN gasped as the bloody rain stopped. "I had been wondering what your Stone was, but I should have puzzled it out."

"What is this?" Octavian asked.

"Each Tower has a Stone. That alone isn't enough to switch it on. It needs an outside activator. Kagrenac was using that on Red Tower, that's what the tools were, an activation power source." LN replied. "If you put your hand there, your Stone should switch it on."

"Well… What'll that do?" Octavian asked, his eyes and voice glazed over with wear and some other emotion LN couldn't read.

"Last time someone lit a Tower, we got the Dragon Break. But they didn't have the same power regulators that we do, and they also did something very bad. Can't quite remember what it was, though." He shrugged. "I've always been one for trying new things."

"Well, alright." Octavian said, as he placed his hand on the handprint.

"Okay, now push the red button." LN instructed.

"The what?"

"The red thing next to the handprint, push it in."

Octavian pushed it, and then metal bands shot out and tied his hand down. "Gah, what the hell is this?" Octavian asked, suddenly wide awake. Then he was covered with pure energy, LN didn't know what happened at first, but he sensed a vast amount of power being pulled through Octavian into the Tower itself. LN watched as Octavian's divinity was sucked dry, and he was thrown back, a normal vampire once again.

Suddenly, a malignant intelligence ripped through his mind with a vile laugh, and he collapsed to his knees. "Serpent, get away! I'll kill you, worm! Your other was killed, I saw his body!" LN began reciting an old Shorist prayer in a language he didn't know, but he knew it to be his own from long ago. "I RENOUNCE YOUR FILTH, AURI-EL, FATHER OF MY ENEMY!" He found himself shouting to the sky.

The sky swam with black and a rift opened with the sound of metal being torn. Out from it floated a colossal golden Dragon, eyes white and talons black as jet.

_**"That fool should never have come down here!"**_ Akatosh said. **_"My enemy who was me, he foolishly split from our double entity to aid his human people one last time. And where is he now? Petrified among the mortal filth!"_**

"What the hell is going on?" Octavian asked.

_**"You and M'Razzar were wonderful pawns. The function of Tower Installation 3 is to draw power from the others and open a portal to anywhere in the galaxy."**_

"So you're the 'Hidden Enemy!'" Octavian said.

_**"You should learn to interpret prophecies before acting on them."**_ He said, then made to lunge at him. Suddenly he jerked back, screaming. Octavian turned around and saw LN, his sword stuck into the screen, which had turned red. The words "ERROR: SELF REPAIR INITIATED. RE-INITIALIZING SYSTEM CONFIGURATION" was dimly visible on it. Akatosh flew away, spiraling upwards, coming to a rest just below the rift. He encased himself in a black bubble. LN had come to his senses, and while he didn't remember, his body and soul did.

_**"It's only a matter of time before the system repairs itself."**_ He taunted. **_"You can do NOTHING!"_**

"Yes we can!" LN yelled as the psychic messages began passing between LN and Jongard at lighting speeds. "Jonny, are you prepared to go?"

"I am." Jongard said, drawing his swords. They had come to a mutual decision.

"Wait, where are you going?" Octavian asked.

"Sovngarde." Jongard said. "I must die."

"No! What the fuck are you talking about?" Octavian asked, hysterical. He did not deal well with loss, as LN had feared.

"When he destroyed the Stone of Red Tower, he was wearing most of the activation module. He _is_ the Stone of Red Tower. White-Gold is programmed to sap the activation power from the other Towers. If we can shut down the primary system by undermining it's power supply, the secondary system will remain in Standby, we can keep the barriers up between here and Oblivion up that way." LN explained, not knowing what recesses of his mind supplied the information.

"What he's saying," Jongard interrupted, "is that I'm the power source for this infernal Tower, and to keep Akatosh from destroying Nirn, like he's been trying to do since his rival created it, we need to cut that power."

"There has to be another way to do this! I'm not letting you die!" Octavian said, throbbing weakly with magic, so weakly as to be almost invisible.

"There is no other way." Octavian said, grabbing him with telekinesis. "If you want to destroy the world, go ahead, but don't get in my way when I'm trying to save it!" He then threw Octavian like a rag doll at the parapets.

"Now, let us begin. Obviously, no holding back." He said, taking his katana out of the activation controls.

"Yes." Was all Jongard said. He started to glow red, and float an inch off the ground. LN's tattoos glowed a bright blue, and he hunched over a little, a guttural noise escaping his lips. For a moment they stared each other down, sizing each other up.

Suddenly they were upon each other, swords clashing.

LN was shocked by the ferocity Jongard exhibited. While he knew his death was necessary, he also had a ferocious will to survive.

Suddenly Jongard lunged, and the fiery sword impaled LN, who burst into flame. He yelled out a war cry and his tattoos glowed a brilliant, hot white. He slammed Jongard with the pommel of his sword, breaking his nose, and then dropped it. He lunged at him, sword still inside, clawing at Jongard's face. He was blocked, and Jongard delivered a bone-shattering punch to LN's ribs. He retaliated with a backhand across the face, which sprayed blood from Jongard's mouth. They began to go faster, until the wind from their movements extinguished the flaming vampire.

Suddenly they began to cast spells from ancient times, LN's from his subconscious, Jongard from his former self. LN began to fly, casting blue flames from tattoos across his knuckles. Jongard jumped aside, then launched red lightning, which was also dodged. The force of their spells started to break the Parapets and other, later-era decorations off the Tower, the loose stones flying out and orbiting around one or the other of the combatants. They began to hover off the Tower's edge.

They continued casting spells at each other. The flying stones caught the spells and filled the sky with multicolored explosions. They flew closer, the stones beginning to impact off each other. Suddenly one stone in the vampire's orbit slammed into Jongard's head.

Jongard fell, and all his stones with him. Octavian, out of his fear of loss, leapt after him, and LN passed him in the air, two swords glistening in his hands.

They raced to the ground underneath. Jongard watched them with a disinterested contentment. He knew he could not be saved now, and his death was too long in coming.

He landed first, then LN, who stabbed down into the dead body with both swords. He then grabbed Octavian with a slowfall spell and let him drift to the ground.

"You're free, brother." He said, closing Jongard's eyes, and removing the swords. He sat down, and so did Octavian. The vengeful god screamed from the sky, his body disappearing into a cloud of mist as he, too, fell, the power sustaining him destroyed.

"Why?" Octavian asked.

"Any of us three could have killed Auri-El, certainly. But then the world would have ended, just as it was prophesied. You were supposed to kill him, and end all Time. I've been through a Dragon break. It's not something you ever want to repeat." LN replied from instinct. He would need much more time to remember the First Era, but his ideas and images were enough at the moment, now that the Oblivion Crisis was ending.

"There was no other way?" Octavian asked.

"The only way to deactivate a Tower is to remove it's Stone with a full Activation Module." He said. "That wasn't an option, but White-Gold's unique power grid allowed us to put it in permanent standby by undermining any Tower's Power Source, and since he was the last thread of Red Tower, only he could turn it off."

"Why didn't he just let you kill him, if he knew that was the only way to stop it?"

"He and I are Shorists. We both believe that dying valiantly in battle is the only way to enter Sovngarde. I was willing to grant him that."

Octavian, in shock and finally letting his exhaustion catch up with him, collapsed. LN scooped him up and went to find his woman before sunrise, which would, once again, harm him.


	28. A Hero's Farewell

**Author's Note: **_Okay, I'm gonna start winging it a bit from here. Anyone involved in the writing of the stories being winged knows why: They no longer exist. So unlike the carry-overs from Octavian, the things from the original LN stories (which is to say Roleplays, including Tides, folks) are going to vary a bit from their originals in dialogue, and occasionally character appearance. Inevitable setback of mass deletion due to the site crash. But if any of those folks involved want to make sure their favorite parts get in, just send me a message with their summaries. _

I, Eternity

A Hero's Farewell

LN spent the next three days grinding various ingredients into a powder, preparing the room for when Octavian woke up, and getting to know Octavian's little lover.

He learned that her name was Elena, and she filled him in on everything that had occurred, as far as she knew it. Octavian's various missions, his run-ins with his brother, his family history, the gem, again, as far as she knew. LN took what details he already knew and painted a much better picture of the last few months.

After three days of worry that Octavian may never awaken, three days of flurried movements, an odd home search by the Imperial Guard to ensure no leftover, vengeful assassins were stalking the halls, body collecting, building reconstruction, and proper mourning, Octavian finally began to shift and make noises akin to what a human might.

"He's awake!" Elena exclaimed with joy.

"Quiet, woman. He's reeling." LN whispered, grabbing the potion off the table, covered with dust and papers among the odd alchemical device.

Octavian vomited all over the floor as he sat up. "What the hell?" He mumbled.

His eyes opened slowly, like a man who knew full well how hung over he was trying to take it in stages. His thoughts were dull and shaking, like a stagnant pool that was finally disturbed after too long.

"About time you woke up, kid!" LN said, passing the potion, a concoction comprising of human blood, some ogre blood for strength, a few ground plants to dull the pain, and some Nordic Whiskey for taste. "That should clear your head up pretty good." He said.

Octavian drank it down. His thoughts and eyes both cleared a little, then as he tried to sit up a second time he vomited yet again.

"Dammit, I didn't purify the potion enough." LN said, turning back to his table. Elena cleaned Octavian up as best she could.

"What's going on?" Octavian asked.

"The Oblivion Crisis has been over for three days. You passed out after your ordeal with Akatosh. I got you inside before everything cleared up, and me and Elena have been taking care of you since. We were starting to think you were never gonna wake up."

"Sorry to disappoint." Octavian said, managing a grin, although pain still rolled off him, and showed clearly in his face.

"The mass funeral is today." Elena said. "Ocato is going to give a speech in front of everyone at the Dragon Statue."

"Okay, I'll go. I doubt I'll enjoy it." Octavian muttered.

Due to the pact with Clavicus Vile, Cyrod Vampires could go into the sun for limited periods if fed. As such, after drinking the potion successfully at last, Octavian managed to go out. They all went to the mass funeral, and at it, LN, hanging in the back of the crowd as Octavian said a few words to the Empire, met a very interesting person.

His name was Nemarious. He was a psychopath. LN saw him milling about the gates of the Temple district, speaking half to himself, and half to anyone who'd listen. His thoughts were scattered, stretching in several directions at once. LN, unable to stop himself, said hello.

"I want cake."

"I don't have any. I'm LN."

"I'm Nemarious, but we call me Nem."

LN didn't bother asking who "we" were, but Nem told him anyway.

"I have some friends here. They're so confused." He gestured to several people standing nearby. A mix of races and professions, all with very little to do with each other. There was a human-looking woman, with the feral aura of a werewolf, as well as several mages, including a Dunmer in very obvious Telvanni garb

"How did you meet them?" LN asked.

"I got tied up!" Nem said, cheerfully.

"I'm gonna go talk to them, now." LN said, smiling.

"I want cake."

"I still don't have any."

LN walked over to the group of misfits and introduced himself. Chief among them were three: Morgrim, the werewolf. She was a bit of a bitch, but LN sensed deeper emotions, chief among them loyalty to Hircine, her Daedric master. Second was Enthravald, the Telvanni. LN could not read his thoughts, but could sense the depth of his intelligence was unmatched. Then there was Penta, another mage who, from LN's brief reading, had the greatest amount of pure magical strength. They were quite an odd group of people, but instantly he found himself drawn to them, as though he knew that they would be very important to him soon.

Before he left with them, he met back up with Octavian and Elena.

'So now that you're done being a hero," LN asked, "What do you plan on doing?

"I'm looking for the cure. I won't be able to live life without Elena, so I'm becoming mortal again." Octavian said, holding Elena's hand.

"Check around Elsweyr. I knew a guy who was trying to make one down there." LN said, not sure where he got that information. said.

"What about you?" Elena asked.

"I'm gonna stay here for a while." He said, motioning to his new friends. "These people are a hoot. I'm hanging with them. Good luck in the search." He said, and left.

He came back to the group of misfits,

"So anybody have any ideas on what we can do?" Morgrim asked.

Suddenly, an ancient vow burst into LN's head, a vow he knew was irrational and useless but that he felt like pursuing anyway until a better idea came to him.

"I might have an idea."


	29. Let's Have a Party

_**Author's Note/Disclaimer:**__ I did not write the song "Man of Constant Sorrow."_

I, Eternity

Let's Have a Party!

"Wait," Enthravald said, "You want to go directly to Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora's plane of Oblivion, the very place where Morian Zenas disappeared and lost his mind, just because we can?"

LN considered, "Yeah that sounds about right."

LN and his new friends were mulling about outside the walls of the Imperial City. Nem was doing cartwheels on a rock, Penta sat and looked on as they spoke, and Morgrim scratched behind her ear in a distinctly dog-like fashion. LN believed she was one of the Hounds, beyond a normal werewolf. The fact that she didn't always act completely like a dog was amazing to him.

Enthravald clapped his hands. "That's BRILLIANT! I am amazed that I never thought of it! All that knowledge contained in one place, and with several people together the chance of losing ones sanity due to getting lost beyond comprehension is far lower! How do we get there?"

"Well, there's a small ritual involved. It's actually easier than summoning, since we are going in as opposed to pulling him out. The problem is making a stable enough portal that doesn't rip you apart. Also, it depends on where we're going."

On this, LN was certain. He had the memory, the days that floated between the First and Second Eras. He also happened to know that for a temporary portal the formula was mostly the same, with one ingredient different each time, usually symbolic. For example, the ingredient for getting into Molag Bal's realm was simply to switch an apple with a pomegranate.

LN quickly filled them in on the details, and as though the god of Fate that they were going to visit was smiling (or whatever he did) between the four of them they had everything they needed. LN had a really old vial of Orc blood, Penta not only had a scroll for every elemental Destruction spell, but several spares besides, Nem, for whatever reason, had a thirty meter length of rope and an authentic scroll of Aldmeris incantations, Morgrim had both an apple ("It's not for eating, I like pelting Bosmer with it") and a small amount of travel meat. Enthravald provided the final piece of the puzzle: A history book from more than three hundred years ago.

LN nodded to Penta, and told him "Of all of us, you have the most raw power, so I'm gonna need you to start us off, and I'll join in where needed."

Penta nodded. He cast all three scrolls on the apple as LN poured the blood, which de-crusted back to a red liquid. Morgrim tied the rope to a tree trunk and threw the other end into the prolonged spell effects. Enthravald put the travel meat on the book and began to wave it above the spells as he read from the Aldmeris. After a few moments, Penta collapsed to one knee and groaned as his eyes glowed. LN began to send off some of his own power to bolster him. This was the dangerous part, this was the part where someone could die. After a few tense moments, a clear blue door opened in the air before them, and the rope was sucked in, going taut as it reached it's limit.

"Looks like we have a winner." LN said, offering Penta a helping hand as they entered.

They had done something wrong.

Or not. It was obvious this was not Apocrypha. A stage band was playing old-timey music as Daedra and mortal alike danced in peace with each other.

"I think we're in the Colored Room." LN laughed. He saw Sanguine dancing with a naked, drunk woman and figured he was right.

"Hey-OH!" Sanguine shouted, tossing the woman to another partner. "If it isn't some new revelers! And I bet you didn't think this is where you were going, did you?"

"No, not really." LN said.

"Well, go grab some drinks and I'll tell you as we run."

So they obliged. It would have been foolish to refuse a party in the realm of the Party God. Nem quickly went over and danced with Azura, who was wearing a bandage on her nose from "some incident with Vivec's Divine Dong," as Sanguine diplomatically put it. Morgrim and LN, the two nonhumans, grabbed a drink made specially for their kind, something the Atronach serving drinks called "bloodwine," that Morgrim claimed to be familiar with. The two of them went over to the gaming tables. Mephala and Meridia were playing strip pong. As soon as Mephala started losing, LN and Morgrim moved to the poker tables. Nobody wanted to see that. The only one that wasn't strip poker had a banged-up Mehrunes Dagon and a nearsighted Storm Atronach at it. LN and Morgrim sat down.

"I deal." Dagon said, putting his four arms to good use.

"So how are you holding up?" LN asked. He had a jack and an ace. Quite a start off.

"I've been better, but I gotta say that at least Auri-El didn't win. That means I go too, after all." Dagon replied.

LN played a few rounds, and lost miserably. Dagon patted him on the back and reminded him: "At least you won Esrionet."

LN remembered. Many years ago, in the First Era, he had won a card game for the protection of a small island town Dagon would have destroyed. He smiled as Sanguine passed him another round.

"Well, maybe I should tell you, you're one off to the left. Something's happening in the Shivering Isles and it's thrown everything off."

Nem vomited on Azura's pure white blouse.

"Maybe we should be off." LN said, seeing her eyes flare up.

"Well, hope you had fun. It's through that door."

LN herded them all together before Azura smote Nem, but before they left, he heard something from up on the stage. A guitar was playing in a familiar tune that he loved.

_In constant Sorrow_

_All through his days!_

In a flash, LN had leapt on the stage and grabbed the voice amplifier.

_I am the ma-an of constant sorrow_

_I've seen trouble all my days!_

_I've bid farewell to old Evermor_

_The place where I was born and raised!_

The two Atronach grabbed their own amplifiers

_The place where he-ee was born and raised!_

LN chimed back up after a solo that a Dremora played behind them.

_Fo-or six long yea-ears I've been in trouble_

_No pleasure here on Nirn I've found._

_Fo-or in this world I'm bound to ramble_

_I have no friends to help me out!_

Again, the Atronachs

_He has no frie-iends to help him out!_

LN was loving this.

_Hence fair thee well My oe'redue lover _

_I never expect to see you again._

_For I'm bound to ride that northern Trade road_

_Perhaps I'll die upon that train._

The Atronachs:

_Perhaps he'll die-ie upon his train!_

Him again:

_You can bury me-ee in ssome neat valley_

_For many years where I may rest._

_Then you may learn to love another_

_While I am sleeping in my grave._

Atronachs:

_While he is slee-eepin' in his grave!_

The final verse:

_Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger_

_My face you'll never see no more._

_But there is one promise that is given:_

_I'l meet you in Shor's golden hall!_

The revelers erupted in cheer. LN bowed. "Thank you, you're a wonderful audience!" He laughed as he jumped off the stage, walked past a dumbstruck Azura and up to his new friends.

"What in Oblivion was that?" Penta asked.

"When you've lived really long, you need a hobby." LN said, winking. "Come on, Sanguine said he'll let us through this door. It should take us where we need to be."


	30. Unending Apocrypha

I, Eternity

Unending Apocrypha

Before they could reach the door, Dagon grabbed LN and Nem by the shoulders with his two upper hands.

"I know your purpose friend, and another friend of another friend has told me that much more of the like will come." He said. "So I give you these gifts."

Dagon's lower hands each held a box. He gave one to both of them. "If these blades touch any Deadroth, even a Prince, they will instantly be banished, but the sword will also be lost for eternity. Boethiah forged them, and he spent some time explaining some boring formula to me, but I forgot it." LN looked at the sword. It was a vicious, ugly thing. It's blade was serrated and ridged on one side, and sleek as a slaughter fish on the other. One side for unarmored beings like Atronach or most Princes, and another for warriors like Dremora.

Enthravald gave LN quite a strange look. "If you have a question, ask." He said, calmly.

"Dagon just tried to invade Tamriel, and yet you and he carry on as though the world is not in turmoil by his actions. I have trouble understanding you, Ancient, but this is beyond even that." Enthravald said, not with malice or reproach but an insatiable, scientist's curiosity. He was eager to research, to gain knowledge of the inner workings of an Ancient's mind.

"It's actually simple when you know it. He's the Prince of Destruction, so of course it is his lot in life, but there was another dimension. Destruction has a purpose. Without it, the world stagnates, and nothing changes. However, Destruction and unmaking are different, and He is certainly against being unmade. When something is destroyed, it can be rebuilt even better than it was, or worse. That is the chance and the movement of it. However, if it is unmade, it is gone forever and nothing new can be salvaged or recreated." LN explained.

"So by invading Tamriel, He averted greater catastrophe?" Enthravald said. LN nodded. "Quite interesting." He said, and mused on that.

They passed through the door and into a chilly breeze. Nothing moved in it, not even their own hair or clothes, as LN stuffed his sword, still in its box, into his magic bag. He remembered vividly now what he had sworn, but still did not know the event. It had something to do with…

_Caelia._

He did not let them see the look of pain on his face. He looked around himself, away from the others, as though he were in awe as the fearsome grimace faded.

It wasn't entirely a hoax. He was in awe. The place was massive. And in it was stored the fates of all things living and dead, an even more comprehensive mass of prophecy and counter-prophecy than the fabled Imperial Library and the Elder Scrolls combined. Billions, even perhaps trillions, of identical books. All bound in identical jet black, unlabeled. All the same length, in terms of appearance, although some were more full than others. For example, the peasant who lived, died, and worked the same small plot all his life would still be dense and heavy, but small compared to that of Octavian, or himself. Several were grouped together in very obvious arrays, and using magic he discerned names and faces, none familiar.

"This is incredible!" Enthravald said, wide-eyed. "All the knowledge of the Aurbis and beyond at our fingertips!"

Morgrim snarled, her feral eyes darting around the narrow corridors between the shelves. "Careful, wizard, or we will be lost here."

"I am aware, but using magic I could locate our own books, and we would truly know ourselves!"

"Such knowledge is dangerous," LN said as dim memories began to stir in his subconscious. "Find them if you can, take them if you will, but do not open a single volume until we return to Nirn."

Enthravald nodded and raised his arms before chanting an incantation. As he did so, an orange glow appeared before his eyes.

'Follow me," he said when the spell finished. He walked them down several twists and turns, until they came across a strange device of unknown function and origin.

Unknown to all but LN.

It was a teleporter. LN recognized it from a distant memory on the hazy edges of the third era, the last days of the Remans. If he recalled correctly, and instinct told him he did, then it was similar in function to an Oblivion gate, if not in form. Being this was not the simple, wanton realm of Mehrunes Dagon, it was even more advanced.

He looked over the railing to see if the Advanced Sigil Stone was underneath. It was, and that meant, according to LN's shady memories, the device had power. That only left…

Nem walked up to the device and said "I like buttons!" before pushing one and vanishing.

"Fuckberries!" LN shouted. "Nem! Nem, where are you?"

"He could be anywhere." Penta said. "And this place is-"

Then they all stopped dead. A foreign consciousness like none they had ever felt flooded their mental fields.

_"Wow. This place is big."_ Nem said. _I guess that mean's we're all big too, now that we're it."_

LN understood then. Nem had become a part of the realm, and shared his being with it, and everything in it, including them. If only Nem were sane enough to help him dig up some of his memories. But it was immaterial, if he could find his book, then it wouldn't matter. He could simply see them stated in black and white.

Before Nem lost himself totally in Apocrypha, LN pushed the same button. Nem appeared, but without his strange overcoat. As soon as he noticed this, he began to panic.

"Oh no oh no oh no!" he shouted as he ran in circles. "Mora's letter from Sheogorath was in there!"

After a moment he calmed down. "I'm thirsty." He said and began to walk in circles, muttering.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Morgrim asked, a concerned growl on her throat.

They watched as he bobbed his head left to right.

"Yeah, probably." Penta said. "Well, is there a way to use this thing to go to just one place?" he asked.

LN nodded. Yes, but you have to turn it on first and let it run. Now that it's done that, we just need Enthravald to use his magic and set a location for us."

Enthravald let the orange light flow from his eyes to the teleporter, and they all stepped in.

When they appeared, it was right in front of a shelf, and several books had an orange light around them. Nearby, a strange old man sifted through pages of a random book, a look of pure bliss on his face.

"That must be Morian Zenas." Enthravald said. "Let's not bother him, there's nothing we can do at this point."

Or so he thought. At the sound of human voiced, Zenas looked up and smiled. "I knew you would come." He said, as lucid as any man. "It was quite wrong of me to involve my apprentice in this, but he volunteered. The books your spell has lightened are your own." with a wave of his hand, each book flew to it's owner's own hands.

"I can't read." Morgrim said, and placed hers back.

"I'd rather not know. Navel-gazing would save me nothing." Penta said, also returning his.

Nem started to eat the pages of his book. LN and Enthravald seemed the only ones genuinely interested, one for academia and the other for the past alone. However, as they stood and wondered what to do now that they had their books with no resistance, Morgrim snarled as a Flesh Atronach rounded the corner and prepared to raise an alarm on sight of them.

Morgrim tensed and prepared to pounce, even in her human form she was formidable with the various blessings of the Huntsman. Despite those, LN was even faster. He knew not what instinct drove him. Intuition, fate, or perhaps just a sudden onset of vampiric bloodlust, it was immaterial. Before anyone could react, the Atronach was drained of it's last drop.

For a few seconds, even LN was paralyzed with shock at what just happened. Then he was gripped with convulsions of pain arching through every fiber of his being, physical and otherwise. His tattoos glowed with a sickly maroon shade and then he fell to the ground, pushing himself quickly back up. He then remembered: he had always wondered what would happen if a pure, unassociated Daedroth were fed upon, and since the other Atronach were either bloodless or not very hospitable to the idea, he took this one.

"What just happened?" Morgrim asked. LN coughed and said "I just took on a partially Daedric nature. I'm not completely sure how it will effect me." He reached into the magic bag, and threw the box to Morgrim. "I can't use that anymore, not if I am now part Daedroth. Keep that safe somewhere until I figure out what to do with it.

Suddenly, a force teleported them away.

They appeared, minus Zenas, in front of a blob of quivering, skinless flesh. The being was covered with eyes, and tentacles stretched from underneath Him even as crab claws pinched the air above. Each of his lowest eyes focused on a separate member of the group and He spoke:

**You have invaded the sanctity of My Realm. I allowed one, the wizard Zenas, to come here at the cost of his never leaving. **Mora boomed. **I must now exact… Wait, I recognize you.**

All of his beady red eyes locked on LN.

**Perhaps you come to attempt to banish Me? Foolishness! I do, however, admire your skills and conning to have made it here. So, I will not destroy you as I intended, and perhaps I can give some small consolation to you, Reaved One.**

LN's fists loosened.

**I can release you from my chains. You will be truly free to live out your eternal life as you see fit.**

LN nodded. "How?" he asked.

**Return your book to me, and then cut open your finger. I will use your blood to unmake your book.**

LN drew a knife, and cut open his left hand even as his book flew out of his bag. The wound quickly closed as the vampire blood quickly turned to ash and sprinkled the black binding. With a flash and a bang, the book was gone, and LN felt a surge of unrestrained power, the power of a Daedra Lord, seem to wash from his heart out of every pore in his body and into Mora.

**The deed is done.**

And just that moment, Nem stopped eating his book and looked at one of the pages. His face went white and then red as he read the words, which mysteriously began falling off the pages and to the floor. Mora looked at him the second before his Daedric banishment sword dug into His flesh and the world went white.


	31. White Echo

I, Eternity

White Echo

The scent of bread once filled the room. It hadn't for many years now. They had been given the house, once belonging to one of the Slaver's powerful warrior-nobles. It had been fitting that he should have received it, but now they were all dead or vanished. Morihaus, Pelinal, Allesia herself, or Perrif as he had known her in their youths. They had died, yet due to whatever accident, he still did not remember back that far, he had been cursed or blessed with eternal life and the terrible cost of hunger that came with it.

However, this was no accident. What he had done to Caelia after he finally slew the Ayleid who had taken her from him was deliberate, and he had considered it an act of love, not realizing the horror that it was. They were still young. He had been this way for some time already, and during the rebellion could take the blood of his foes on the battlefield until he no longer craved it as much as the first days. She, however, was still new, and had to slay one living being every night in order to stave off madness or worse. He hadn't thought, being so numb to taking life as he had been forced into being, that she might not be easily able of taking a life.

And so it was coming to a head.

"You know why I did it." He said. They had this fight every few days, but this felt different. "If I had not, then by now you would be dead, and I would be alone like this."

"Oh, you would be alone, but I would be in Kyne's paradise!" Caelia shouted. "And with you being who you are, who could say that you wouldn't eventually be killed?"

After he had first saved her, first cursed her, she had never said "killed" if the conversation had ever been anywhere near him. Now she made a point of it.

"Either way, we are both alive and immortal, and we can be together for eternity, like we always would say."

She snarled at that. "Spending every night as an unwilling accomplice to your murders as a way to stave of madness wasn't what I meant!"

That stung.

Her features softened. Her yellow eyes and blood-red lips stark against the whiteness of her skin, he couldn't help but notice, contrary to his grotesque battle-marks, her tattoos only seemed to melt into her natural features and enhance her beauty.

"Leon, we aren't fated to be together this way."

In the present, LN's mind burst with light. In the past, it filled with darkness. He didn't know what to say. Never in his wildest nightmares did he imagine a living Caelia leaving him of her own volition.

'All things are determined by Fate." she said, with a sad sigh, as she put a small figure of Herma-Mora in her pocket. "And now, ours no longer flow together." She gently kissed him and left into the darkness. He would not see her for centuries, and when he did, she would die. The present LN knew that, but Past Leon did not at the time. There was much in between that and his second-most recent recovered memory, and he knew that there was much more to be had even earlier, that he had known many of the greats and yet his name had faded, but that would have to wait until later, because he was waking up.

His eyes slowly opened, under a tree at night in the middle of nowhere, Cyrodiil. Right in front of him was a clearing, with the obvious remains of an Oblivion Gate in the center, but nature still unscathed around the edges. This Gate had not been open long before the final battle. Some of the others had already woken up, and were building a fire. He sat up and shook his head off as Nem put firewood down and Penta lit it up with a spell. Morgrim was fluctuating between her lupine and human form, and was off to a shaded spot where she could finish her transformation and replace her ripped clothing without several males staring at her. Enthravald was waking up simultaneously, his book still in his hand.

"My name is Leon Neleus." Leon said. The others, save Morgrim who was elsewhere, all looked at him. "I'm not sure why, since I gave my book up, but I'm getting more flashes, and I just learned my name again."

He twinged with a little regret. He could have simply learned all his old secrets quickly, but the compensation of being free from fate overshadowed it. Nem's books lay on the ground, and while much of it's contents on the remaining pages were intact, some words and sections seemed to have simply ceased to be.

Enthravald took his book and opened it. Sure enough, some sections dropped out of it and vanished. His quick intellect determined the cause.

"It seems that since you are free from fate, any sections in our books that involved you are falling out. Not only that, but it seems that if you take an action that alters our fates, then anything related to that will also be altered." He said, leafing through some earlier pages before putting the book away for later examination. "This means that if you are free from fate, then to an extent so is everyone you meet and subsequently them also. For a god of scrying the future, Mora doesn't seem to have thought this boon through."

"No future bits?" Nem chimed. "How exiting! I gotta go tell someone!" he said, running over to Penta and repeating word for word what Enthravald said. Nem's ears then twitched, and he ran into the woods to where Morgrim was changing.

"That's not a good-" Leon started before he heard it too. Muffled footsteps taking deliberate care to be stealthy. He wasn't sure how Nem heard them first, but he had, and either way it was time to run.

As soon as Morgrim, almost nude and in her human form, saw Nem and Leon she covered herself with an oversized mushroom cap, and began to stammer "I may be feral but I'm not some-"

Then Nem cut her off with a piercing cry that Leon would remember the rest of his days: "Damn- it- WOMAN! BANDITS!"

Once she was aware of the threat, she turned herself into a werewolf deliberately and jumped between Leon and Nem, and they were joined by the mages. The battle was quick, by the standards of the party it was pathetic. Penta's vast well of magic power vaporized many of the bandits instantly, and the survivors were easy pickings for the rest. Leon couldn't help but think that without any chains binding him anymore, it seemed his life was still much the same as before.

After the skirmish, he sat in the grass with the others in the clearing, working on perfecting a minor Illusion spell. They sat and admired the way the teal light that emanated from his tattoos danced with the orange of the fire, before the now-clothed Morgrim asked, "so what now?"

Leon broke off his dancing lights and thought about that. "Well, I could definitely secure us all financially by putting our strange adventure into a book."

Enthravald spoke up. "I'd rather you changed my name, or omitted me as much as possible. Obviously Telvanni mages prefer to keep their doings secret."

"Fine by me." Leon said, "as for us as a group, we may want to scatter for a while. After all, we did cause quite a bit of trouble for the Daedra."

As if on cue, a familiar, grating laugh that sounded like a million nails on a million chalkboards, the buzzing of flies and the screams of murdered children rang through the clearing. Out of the fire stepped an impeccably dressed Daedra Prince with a cane and a killer beard.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to say my piece." He said, he picked up Nem by the feet, and slapped him repeatedly in the face. "I ask you one task, and like your maggot father you can't even do that right! One letter to one Prince! I hereby curse you that for four years you shall walk Nirn as one of the sane!"

With that, He disappeared, and Nem clattered to the ground in shock.

"That's definitely going in the book." Leon said, as Nem dusted himself off.

"Sorry about that, friends." Nem said. "Master Sheogorath wanted me to give Mora a letter asking for the state of the Realm and how to best prevent the Greymarch. I did fail in that task, and I have the regrettable curse of seeing the world through the eyes of an average man for a while."

"Well, okay I guess." Leon was getting a little sick of this dealing with Daedra for a while. "I think now may be a good time to split, or this book could be unforgivably long. I'll contact you all by magic when it comes time to give you your money, and to come together again for a reunion."

With that, Leon stood up. "I have a few things to clear up before I have any more adventures anyway, and I could certainly use a vacation." He said as he teleported himself back to the Imperial City.


	32. The New Mission

I, Eternity

The New Mission

Leon appeared back in Malendil's house. She was speaking to Gaius, the second-oldest vampire they had found after himself aged at seven hundred years. Gaius had been old when he was infected, so his hair was a shock of grey and his skin wasn't as taut as most of them, but in life he had been an Apothecary and his skills, augmented by centuries of research, were invaluable.

As Leon entered, he shook Gaius' hand firmly and hugged Malendil.

'Well, LN, I don't think I've ever seen you so ecstatic." Gaius said with his thick, second-era Colovian accent.

"You don't need to call me that anymore, I found out what my name is!" Leon said, before explaining the circumstances of the past few whatever-it-had-been. Wound up, despite the appearance of mere hours flying by, he had disappeared for a full three days. They knew he would have been fine, so they continued to make plans as to how to handle the reconstruction.

"Well then LN, er, Leon," Malendil said, "We've been assigning people to help with the reconstruction in different areas of Tamriel in order to cement whatever of Emperor Martin's loosening up went through. We think that there may be one place in particular you may be able to help."

"Really? And where might that be?" Leon asked.

"We think that you would be most useful in Morrowind."

Leon felt his joy begin to ebb.

"There are a lot of reasons for this. First, You have the ability to not look like a vampire, so only those who you believed wouldn't go and kill you would need to know. Second, you would be able to escape with the lowest body count if discovered before the time was right, third, you look like an Imperial. The Imperialists in House Hlaalu are currently on the upswing, but to have a seeming-Imperial personally being delegated to help rebuild would do wonders to deter people considering any sort of violent uprising. Fourth, you could probably do the most to help rebuild anyway, and the most major point as far as we are concerned is this," Malendil said, stopping to breathe, "The three Clans of Morrowind are constantly at odds over hunting grounds and cattle. Having an outsider of significant power to try and unite them would keep the conflicts from spilling over into mortal society and causing an uproar."

Leon sighed. "Okay, so most dangerous backwater in the Empire, sure. One question, if I'm supposed to help rebuild, how can I do it without killing a bunch of people? I can go for a while without blood and keep my head, but I'm stuck with the same rules: a day without blood means I get a little crispy for going out in the day."

Gaius stepped in. "Well Leon, we'd thought of that." He reached into his bag and pulled out a large blue bottle. "Take a sip of this potion each morning. It's a light-bending potion that should make the sunlight simply dance around you. You will appear illuminated to people looking, and will be able to see perfectly fine, but the sun will not actually burn you."

Leon sighed again. They really had covered any excuse he could make not to go. He didn't remember much about Morrowind. Just that it was really dry and unpleasant, and that the people there weren't much better. He saw no way out of it, and did see that there were a lot of reasons for him to go. So he relented. "When do I leave?"

"Tomorrow evening. So get some rest today." Malendil said.


	33. Not a vacation After All

I, Eternity

Not a Vacation After All

Leon took a swig of the light-bending potion as he continued his decent. The harder part of the journey was over. He had crossed over the border, marked by what the Imperials called the Valus mountain range, into the land of the Velothi.

Even this far away from Vvardenfell, the smell of ash was strong. Even this long after the end of Dagoth Ur, the stench of an insidious death pervaded the land, weaker than it had been, but still present, always at the edge of Leon's senses.

He first came to a small fishing village, and from there recieved transport to Vvardenfell. Seyda Neen, the small fishing village that stank of destiny and swamp gas, was small enough to avoid the attention of the daedra, and was mostly whole. Leon knew, though, that very few other areas would be so unscathed. as if to prove that thought right, a steady stream of refugees were heading into the town as a slow rain fell, intensifying the perpetual gloom of the area. He boarded the massive Silt Strider insect and paid for passage to Ald Ruhn, the most devastated city, former seat of House Redoran, and heart of the Morrowind recovery effort.

When he dismounted the warm fleshy seat inside he massive bug, he was greeted by a gruff Dunmer with one eye in native Bonemold armor.

"An outlander?" He asked. "Are you the Empire's tax-man, come to rob us of our few remaining possessions?"

"Not in the least." Leon said, bowing in respect. "I'm here to help the reconstruction."

"You?" The dunmer said, incredulous. A human, but the hight of a bosmer with piercing yellow-green eyes and strange tattoos coming mysteriously to help rebuild. He had been raised wary, and this seemed wrong. "What's your name? Your station?"

"I am the battlemaster Leon Neleus, sent by the Bosmer Malendil." Leon answered. "I mean no harm at all. And may I ask who I have the honor of addressing?"

"Sir Hetman Velas, of the Great House Redoran." The Dunmer replied.

"Well, a knight. That's good news. Now, if you have anything ungodsly heavy to be lifted, set me on it. You'll find my magic quite helpful."

"Very well." Sir Hetman said, "could you help those men over there?"

Leon looked over and saw a hundred bloodied survivors trying to move a massive shape. On inspection, it was Ald Skar, the massive hollowed skeleton that hused the Councilors.

"They destroyed Ald Skar?" Leon asked, recalling old memories of it.

"in a manner. Our greatest wizards ressurected it, and set it upon that massive daedric machine." Sir Hetman gestured towards a pile of Daedric metal that had been viciously smashed. "The Emperor Crab managed to destroy the cursed machine before dying once again of it's wounds."

"Well, I'd best get started." Leon said, reaching with his consiousness, wrapping his very being around the massive shape of the fallen beast. With a mighty heave, he managed to bring it up, and then further.

"Where do you want it?" he panted, as everyone gaped. sir hetman instructed him, and he placed the battered and broken remains outside the city limits, as a monument and a deterrent.

With that, he instantly earned the trust of the beleagured people of Ald Ruhn.


	34. Sometimes You Just Need to Break Stuff

I, Eternity

Sometimes You Just Need to Break Stuff

For a week Leon helped to clear the rubble from Ald Ruhn. After his display of lifting the carcass of the Emperor Crab with telekenisis, he had earned the trust of the survivors. he learned from Sir Hetman that all of the Redoran Council members that had not been away had died, and he had assumed temporary control of the remains of the city.

Sir Hetman delegated tasks well, and managed to find enough food in the burnt-out husks of the houses to keep everyone alive, at least for a little longer. A few hunters occasionally managed to kill some Nix-Hounds and fill thier foodstores a little more, but the situation was dire.

"Let's face it, it's five years before we can harvest any of the new saltrice we planted." Sir Hetman said as he surveyed the ashen ground outside of town. "And six months before the Ash Yams."

Leon ran his hands across the dirt. He could feel the seeds. He could feel the life that began in them already, slow though it may be. he also felt some that would not ever grow. It was a calming feeling despite the desperation.

He stood up and clapped the dirt off his hands. "We also have no commodities for trade."

Sir Hetman breathed out slowly. "Yeah."

Leon considered before one of the workers started calling for them.

It was a massive door, buried under Ald Ruhn. It had strange markings in a language even leon didn't know running in black text down from top to bottom, as though it were trying to tell future generations what lay behind. Leon attempted to pry it open with magic, but his spell was deflected with a pop and a flash of multiclored light. He looked to Sir Hetman, then picked up a hammer. They both realized that if there were any valuables behind the door it may just sacve the city.

"You know, magic is helpful, but there's something you should always remember, kids." Leon said, heaving it high. "Sometimes you just need to go and BREAK SHIT!" he slammed the hammer as hard as he could, and the whole door cracked. he heaved and hit it again, his muscles rippling with satisfaction as he wantonly smashed at the door.

The door finally swung open, and the stink of ancient terror wafted out.

"Oh, fuckberries." Leon said, as he jumped aside. The creature that sprang out stank horribly after it's long imprisonment, and it let out a gutteral shriek at it's newfound freedom.

"Not to self: don't open big scary doors without careful thought first." He ran aside and grabbed his sword, then leapt at the beast. The smell almost overpowered him before the creature took flight.

"Oh, what?" Leon shouted. 'And it can fly?"

On closer inspection, it seemed to be a gigantic Cliffracer Brood Mother. "Ah, no shit?" leon said to himself over the rushing wind.

"So much for Saint Jiub." Leon said as he began to hack at the fragile membranes of it's wings. The Brood Mother shrieked and attempted to throw Leon off with a dive. Leon managed to hold on by grabbing the tightly packed, downy feathers caked with centuries of dirt and excrement.

"This is so disgusting." He thought aloud as it landed, it's wing torn. It used it's wing bones for land locomotion, pulling it's bulk forward. On land it was at a disadvantage. Leon jumped up a slope in two bounds, then jumped back down on it, throwing all the combined weight of himself and his armor on the creature's back, stabbing Lightspark down hard. The beast shrieked again, then threw itself back into another slope, slamming Leon hard.

Leon shook himself off, then leapt up the other slope, which was somewhat taller than the first. He jumped again, then cast a massive burden spell on himself, increasing his weight by half a ton. He fell fast, his sword pointed down again, as he bathed himself in lightning. He landed with a resounding explosion of magickal electricity. The beast looked as though it would rise again, but it slumped to the ground, dead.

Leon huffed. "No wonder the Dragons had so much trouble with you guys." He said as he slumped against the hill, downing another round of the Lightbending potion. "And here I thought it was your kids overeating." He got up and walked the distance back to Ald Ruhn.


	35. Gotta Cut Loose

I, Eternity

Gotta Cut Loose

Leon jumped from hilltop to hilltop. He panted hard, sweating under his armor through the dry heat of the Vvardenfell night, feeling his heart pound in his chest as he let his power run loose in the air around him. The fight with the Brood Mother had reminded him what it was to excert himself. He realized over the three days since then that he hadn't had call to really cut loose and go crazy since the end of the Oblivion Crisis. So here he was, running over the island's wastes and swamps, his feet barely touching the ground before his muscles, eager from weeks of relative inactivity, sprang like a Senche Tiger.

As he leapt from hill to hill, beginning to go higher up the valley walls, he thought of their plan. They had decided to force scholars and mages to pay to study the strange ruins they found. Already their dwindling food stores had begun to stop shrinking. As he crested the valley, he saw a Dwemer ruin. He looked over the walls, and saw several humanoid beings crawling on the outer exterior, entering small holes like some twisted ant.

"Ah, shit." Leon muttered. "Have to spoil a nice night with work talk, don't you?"

He jumped over the ruin and landed on a crude causeway hard, allowing an extra thump for emphasis. He walked in, making note of the shadows that shuffled back, thinking themselves hidden. He reminded himself that diplomacy was the watchword here.

As he walked through the darkend halls, he could hear them whispering. He heard, in the distance below him, cattle groanng as they recovered their strength. He realized that he may have made a mistake. Cattle thieves were not tolerated, and whenever a clan breached territory, it was usually to usurp cattle or kill a few rivals.

Leon's step got a lot quieter when he realized that he was basically in the middle of a hostile den of immortals. With their presence so thick around him, he couldn't tell how powerful any one might be. All told, they seemed weak, but one signature among this many.

As the first one leapt at him, he almost idly wondered why there were so many vampires for so few cattle. He threw it back with incredible force as he figured that people were probably to busy fighting daedra to fight vampires.

Leon heard several coming up behind him, screetching with uncrontrolled bloodlust.

Leon lit his hands up, and waves of electrical energy arced up and down his sword. His intent was to stun, not kill, so he let off the energy a second early, knocking them all back, screaming as the power coursed over their bodies. They had not fed recently, there was too few prey here.

More and more began approaching. He used a small magic pulse to repel them, then set up a barrier. He sheathed his sword and stood there, surrounded, wondering how they would react.

After a few moments, one finally steped forward looking almost fully human. He examined Leon closely, then spoke. "There is o way for you to escape alive. Come to one of our holding cells. You will be treated with respect, but you will stay here until we know what your intentions are beyond doubt."

Leon, seeing no alternative at the moment, lowered his barrier followed the newcomer.


	36. I'm Here Because You're Here

**Author's Note:**_It's time for "that." Those who know probably know what "that" is. Be aware, since "that" no longer exists, some dialoge will be a little different, and some events chronology may be the slightest bit altered to fit the story (or where I forget). Thanks to the people who wrote well more than three-fouths the characters in the upcoming. PS: Look up on youtube the song "Libera me from Hell" and play that in the Yokuda I hate rap, but it really fits._

I, Eternity

I'm Here Because You're Here

Leon sat in the room as quietly as he could. But it reminded him of some horror he did not yet remember, and his mouth kept twisting into a feral snarl. The fear from within gnawed at him. He knew that soon whatever this was he would remember. He tried to resign himself to it, but he was going farther back now. It would not be long now before he remembered truly who he was, perhaps even his mortal days.

He knew that the horror was related to that. He saw cages, but nothing else. Imprisonment, a deep-seated, hard-won, and very human desire for nothing but to be out of the cage gripped at him like it would some great beast in the Imperial Zoos.

He began to pace quickly, like a caged lion. He lost track of time, his mind becoming that of a beast, knowing only the way things were at that moment and the desire to have them be different.

A growl escaped his throat as his fist collided with the sturdy dwemer door of his cage. It bent, just a little, but it did. His arm cocked back again as he growled louder, his eyes flaring with a wild madness, and he punched again, denting the door further. He heard the fearful noises of those beings outside.

_Those voices..._ he thought, _They're outside. Where I must be._

He roared loudly and punched again. The air outside the cage was stale as well, but it tasted so sweet as it slid through the slit between the double doors. He had dented it enough to loosen the door. He pulled and pushed, but still it did not budge. He punched again, and the door burst open. The old air in the ruin moved about him as he bolted from wall to wall. It felt like the breath of Kyne herself. He began to come to his senses, and found himself in a hall, with the door open to a large antechamber. The last thing he saw there was the flare of a teleport spell before he was ripped off to elsewhere.

The air was truly fresh. It was dry and smelled of a thousand generations of men long gone. Even so many years after, the charge of a great cataclysmic magic was heavy in the air. He looked and saw an old village, repopulated only recently. From it emanated a great and terrible power. He saw the other vampires of the berne around him and realized they had used a mass teleport and brought him along for the ride. He felt the massive shake of fate being unwound and restrung around the people here. One of the vampires approached a breton and began talking like old friends as he waited, not-quite-invisible, at the back of the crowd of vampires.

"So that's why we need you." The Breton said. "You guys can take the night watches, and we'll take the day."

"That will suffice." The vampire in charge said. "My clan will familliarize themselves with the area while we discuss our sustinence."

Leon began walking around the town. Accidentally he may have come, but he felt that he would be needed before the end. He sat down and only his centuries of accumilated self-control kept him from jumping. Behind a giant, scarred man in black armor what he had taken for a massive statue moved. He felt an enourmous amount of power from them both, but it was not Magic. It was something else.

"What do you want?" The giant asked him as the massive black Dragon behind him raised its enourmous head and regarded him. It was a magestic thing, jet black with fangs of glistening white. Ten red-and-black horns protruded from its skull, and red eyes filled with eons upon eons of wisdom stared out from the sockets.

"I've met a Dragon before." Leon said. "Killed him, unfortunately." He remembered his friend from the Second Era. "But he was nothing like this one."

They gave him a hard look. But he knew the kind of beings they were the same as they knew about him. The giant stood, taller than even the average Orc. "I am Largot, King of the Sea."

**And I am Nak'Ditargan, Dragon Spirit of Darkness** The Dragon said.

Leon bowed. "I am Leon Neleus, really-fucking-old-guy." He knew again that the final echo would soon come.

"Those tattoos are odd." Largot said.

"Yes, they are part of some old magic." Leon said, "Don't ask me to explain because I don't remember much. I do know how to use it."

They spoke for a time of events there, and Largot explained several of the colonists as well as where they were.

They had come from Tamriel all for different reasons. Already many of them had been killed. They were on the colony of Yokuda, the former homeland of the Ra Gada. They were attacked by Sload and a mysterious redguard named Rostrin, who had already stolent the power of the Wind Dragon, becoming even more powerful than Largot and Nak'Ditargan. He pointed to a young Bosmer woman, calling her Laria, saying she had found a magic dagger that had possessed her, but had helped him unlock Nak'Ditargan's power. The Dragons themselves had come from a Nord who radiated power from every pore in his body, Engar, as well as his brother Brennus, who had the Dragon of Earth. He himself was in possession of the Ice Dragon Mateus. However, the only Dragon that had formed was Nak'Ditargan. Along with them was the powerful Breton Telvanni Dan, who had called the vampires here, as well as his Dunmer Mouth Fathis. Finally, there was Saylo Ekissa, a valiant and noble Indoril warrior.

Leon went around with his eyes, examining all of them. Even the ones that didn't know it had a destiny unlike any he had ever seen, from the Bosmer peasant girl to the Dragons, and he felt it approaching with the crushing weight of a tsunami. He shuddered with exitement. Then Largot asked him, "So you aren't like the others. Why are you here?"

And Leon answered truthfully. "I'm here because you're here."

It was then the catapault hit. It came from a ship shrouded in the same power that pervaded Largot. The burst of emotion told him that this was Largot's father. He ran with him to Largot's ship, the _Red Fang_. He jumped on and the ship rocketed towards the other. They scraped againt the barrier in moments, and Largot tried to break through, but it wouldn't give. Leon saw exactly what he needed to do.

He called from the depths of his flesh, blood and soul all the magic he could muster through his tattoos. They glowed white against the darkness, and he floated above the ground. Largot looked at him, not sure what he was doing, but trusting him with it anyway. He knew the destiny too.

The magic welled before him, a ball of light that came from him, and the love he knew would be shared with and between these colonists. Time itself warped around him as he saw a new son, one who would be truly great and carry the name of Neleus proudly.

With a tear in his eye, he launched the spell forward. It impacted the darkness and pushed with a might unparalelled, bending the dark tide back until small cracks began to form. It shattered like so much glass and the others poured on, knowing already that they had won.

He heard the scream first as the Golems attacked the village. It was the Bosmer girl. But also someone else. His eyes went red as he sprinted across the water. He fell upon the golems like an unholy force, ripping at anything that would give with claw and teeth as he saw not this war, but his first. Back to the days where he was human.

Back to Sard.

The Golems had no taste, but he remebered Ayleid blood on that day even before his vampirism. And the other scream that was not Laria, that was further back still. But Leon knew what would have to be done. It was time to remember it all.

His last moments in the present he was dimly aware of Dan being captured and several of the colonists running off into the woods, most of all Laria. He saw then himself in Dan, and wished him luck. His eyes closed and he began to fly back through Time, back all those centuries three thousand years, as he flew back he saw everything that he had already seen. Then it blurred as he went back even further.

He went back to the very beginning. It was time to end what had began when he fell from the Inn in Skingrad. It was finally time after all of his suffering and uncertainty to resolve himself in the past with himself in the future.

It was at last time for the Era of the Ayleid Kings. It was time for Leon to undergo the First Era Echo.


	37. First Era Echo: The Beginning

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: The Beginning

Sometimes he could crawl off when they weren't looking.

That happened a little, but just often enough for him to keep his grasp of his sanity, to avoid the realm of the slaver's Madgod one more day, week, month, whatever it took. He had little sense of passing time. He knew that soon he would be sent to the breeding grounds for his first week to keep the slave populations high enough for the whims of their masters. Then he would be back to the fields with the cattle that were treated better than his kind.

He knew that his race was of the Mannish sort. "Need" or somesuch sounding thing in the tongue they kept in secret. He had learned that and the words of his masters after they had taken her from him. It had been like his own parents. They had met in secret, and found her with child before the slaveharvests. They had slain her just after he was born, given to a slave who could produce milk, but his father had found him, told him in secret his parentage, the same as all the others there, but his own and no one else's, and not even the foul sorceries of their masters could take it from him. Then they ground his skull to powder under a carriage-wheel.

She was all he had then. Her secret name, different hidden from the Ayleids name for her of "that kitchen wench," was Caelia. His was Leon. The elves cared not, he was one of thousands of field slaves, too low even for an Ayleid name. Simply "Buro," as so many thousands more were called. "Slave."

And then they had taken her as well, sold her to the Knight Hektor who broke his wrist as he refused to let her go, but spared him a sword-death as a maggot beneath his notice. He had healed well, but his heart was black with hate.

The story was, again, the same as many here, but his own. _His own._ That no one could wrest from him. Just like his hatred. And he nursed them both with the red blood of his human veins flowing through his blackened soul.

And this day he had slunk off to look at the distant land. Between two of the massive jungle-trees that were on a higher elevation than the rest. He used the vine as he had used the ones from his only magic. He climbed above the dwellings of the elf peasants, far higher than the slave huts.

On one side, he saw the white mountains. Like great fingers of bone jutting from the land after the greens and darker colors of the jungle below. And on another, the Tower. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it must be of the slavers. Men did not build, they worked, he reasoned, to let the elves build. So therefore a building of any kind must be something of the Ayleid. Certainly one so grand, and one of their white stones. But somehow, with the sun shining upon it from behind him, it seemed to glow with the red radiance of twilight. It just made him angry.

He turned back to Sard and climbed down the tree. As he walked back in the fading light, he passed the small river that served as the only source of drinking water and sewer drainage for that quarter of Sard's fields. Looking in the water was a young woman. He remembered her name, dimly. Perrif, it was. She was another field-slave, raven-haired and stony-eyed, as though they were the coldest emeralds on the earth set in her skull. Her story was like Leon's. _But it is not._ Leon thought as he left her to her thoughts. Those eyes stared intently into the river, and then after Leon had left, to the heavens.

They were not allowed to keep their own gods unless in secret, as with their names and tongue. But even without the knowledge, she knew to address Kyne through a Handmaiden and not directly, as unbefitting a mere mortal.

But Leon knew nothing of it until later.

Later, when the few who served as Elders, who Leon had been told were the wise-men in the Time-before-Time, when the men were something they had no word for, were called to council by none other than the girl Perrif. The young woman who was no different than he, save the time between his birth and the slaveharvest after it as well as the secret names of those they had taken from her.

The Elders looked sternly and with open contempt and amusement. Several seemed to wonder, as they were naked save the small loincloths on two of them, if they would have their pleasure of her after. But she was not interested in love or sex, for her heart, it would seem, had been deadened to them.

"I have spoken with the Handmaiden of Kyne." She said, with power unseen from her small frame, even more emaciated then his own. "She has given me a sign of that which we one were. I call this thing we had Freedom, which is Shezzar-Who-Goes-Missing."

Leon's eyes widened as he understood.

"It is time. She has told me. She has given me the sign. It is time to find Him again."

Leon's eyes widened further than he thought possible as his hate came to his hands. She was speaking of the impossible. But he liked it.

"It is likely that all of us will die, but then we will we be in Sovngarde, which is what She told me Shezzar's domain is called. We shall be Free, in this world of the other."

At first the Elders laughed. And some of the others, but not much. Then they saw she was serious, as Leon had known, and he himself stepped forward.

"It can't get any worse than this." He said. "You dare to laugh at Perrif because she realizes what we always should have known, if we were not weak and stupid? That Shezzar-Who-Goes-Missing is not gone, but _here!_" He pointed to his own heart. "That it does not need to be that all love is stripped from our hearts until we are merely mannish-shaped cattle? It is time to wake Him up. Let us shake the slavers to the bone or die!"

Several slaves eyes widened as his had when he saw as she saw. He was, again, first to turn.

"I will follow you in this, Perrif, even unto my own death, no, unto Sovngarde where we shall watch those others who followed you fight until our peoples are free, or until all the Mannish races are dead and gone!"

Perrif almost smiled. As did he. But the word began to spread as a loose plan began to form. By dawn, the brave and the foolhardy would begin the fight. They two among them. After that, they would fight to the death until they saw the end had come, whatever it was.

They did not yet see the future that was yet flying from his Mother's home, the Spirit of the Wind, that would gore their foes alongside them.

But the next day would see the coming of Morihaus and the beginning of the age of Men.


	38. FEE: What Hate Does to You

I, Eternity

First era Echo: What Hate Does to You

The dawn of the next morning saw nothing unusual. The slaves were already on the fields, along with the first shift of guardsmer. As was the plan, they were to wait until the sun was fully risen to begin their uprising. Leon poked the cattle with a stick, looking constantly to the east as the light began to gather and the stars began to fade.

The guard had a simple bronze knife. For his height it was a dagger, but for one of Leon's size it was a short sword. It was simple, undecorated, and almost blunt. More something to scare the slaves with than to use in combat. Leon's eye didn't know that yet, but it would come to learn these things. So he didn't expect his first kill to be so easy.

Once the sun rose fully, he dropped to the ground, as though he'd tripped on a rock a snake hole. The guard walked quickly over, raising his whip.

"Get up you mannish scum!" He yelled in the slaver tongue just as Leon leapt at him with a rock in his hand. The elf dropped his whip in surprise as he recoiled, but he was too late. The rock collided with the side of his head as Leon shouted in the secret language of his own people. He kept hitting the guard's head with a rock, long after he had died, even when there wasn't much head to hit.

He stood up, already covered with the blood and gore, grabbing the knife. He raised it over his head and shouted as loud as he could, the war cry of the unchained beast inside him wracking his body as it spread over the field, and he ran towards the nearest living guard, who had drawn his own mace.

Leon jumped again, taking a hit with the hilt of the mace as he got in close. His side ached, but he didn't notice. He dug the knife into the guard's neck hard, then ripped it out sideways as he roared madly. By now, some of the other slaves had begun to fight, some using rocks, others using rakes or hoes or stolen weapons. Ten guards lay dead, to three dead slaves.

_No,_ Leon thought. _Not slaves any longer, not ever again._

"Come on!" he shouted in the secret slave language. "To the city!"

They charged, some more men joining them. The Kothringi next to Leon died of an arrow in his throat, but he kept charging. Another arrow nicked his shoulder, and he felt waves of heat as spells began to rain down on the charging mob, but it was getting bigger as his blood-lust and hatred infected them. They began running through the gates before they could close, and Leon began cutting down even more of them. Another large group came in another gate, and the elves in the streets began to run as they became red rivers.

Leon looked to the other group, and saw Perrif holding a sword, also of bronze but more decorated and slightly longer than his, and she cut down elves with the same wild abandon as he did. They locked eyes and flashed horrible smiles at each other across the field.

A spellcaster, in robes and with magic beads in his hair, was throwing death from his position behind a shield wall of mer. He and Perrif ran at them from their respective groups. She cut at anyone who dared approach her, wading death. Leon's knife escaped him, but he grabbed a pike and threw it, taking a slightly longer bronze sword from a guard he killed. He jumped, with the strong legs born of walking the fields all day, and cut down. An elf's head split open like a melon and he ran over the body, digging his heel into the chest, as he continued to run towards the mage. He grabbed a shield off the ground and blocked three incoming arrows by accident.

They reached the elves at the same time. He bashed forward with his new shield, and by luck caught the shaft of one of the arrows in one of their eyes. He threw the shield aside and cut down a second. Perrif slashed at the mage, but at the last second one of his beads flashed and her blade turned into the ground. She brought it up as Leon killed another of his mer, but again the bead flashed and the blade was turned aside.

They both snarled and ran at him again, slashing. The mage's barrier turned their weapons aside, and in a bout of rage and frustration, Leon punched with his left hand. The blow connected as Perrif's blade turned aside again. They both understood, and picked up rocks quickly as he charged as spell. Perrif hit him first, in the jaw, then leon hit him in the nose, the blow to the temple from Perrif killed him before he could unleash his magic.

After killing the spellcaster, Leon and Perrif led their groups in different directions. They didn't speak. Now was no longer the time for words. Eventually, they encountered another group of Ayleids. The two armies clashed as Leon's war-cry shook the whole area. At first, it went well. They began pushing the elves back towards the manor. Then the tide began to turn.

Behind them, a horn blared. Some of them looked to see fully armored mer, marching in formation, with spears and the standard of the Ayleidoon flying, armor glinting, and beaded warlocks readying spells.

The first wave slaughtered the rear of Leon's horde. Divided and pincered in, they began to thin. Leon looked around. He wanted to kill them all. He knew if he died here he wouldn't see the end of the war, whatever that was, so he began to look around.

A warehouse door stood open. He shouted for his men to retreat into it. As soon as the last one was in, he closed the door and collapsed several crates in front of it. He had bought them time, but now they were trapped.


	39. FEE: Fight the Power

**Author's note: **_This chapter is dedicated to quirk and YH. Happy birthday, guys._

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Fight the Power

The sorry band of rebels looked around the darkened room as the elves began smashing against the door. It was a small, mostly-empty warehouse. Leon pried open the crates in the back. He found two swords and some armor. He threw the armor on himself and grabbed one of the swords, giving his knife to someone standing near him. He picked up a simple shield and tried out his new iron weapon. It was heavy, but it had better reach.

One of his fellow rebels was sitting in the corner, tears streaming down his face. "We're all gonna die, it's hopeless." He muttered over and over as some of the bigger men grabbed what equipment they could find.

"Maybe we should just surrender?" He ventured.

Leon looked at him. He felt something well up in his fists, and in three steps he had reached the man, more like a boy, and punched him hard in the face.

"Either we die here like real men, or we surrender and be slaughtered slowly like sheep. Take your pick, I choose to die with honor." Leon said. "Either way, we die. Let's make it mean something, as free men!"

The door began to crack. The men ran towards it, screaming their war-cries. Leon jumped forward, through the door as it burst inwards and into a horde of warriors with magic beads to ward them from damage.

His vision went red as he slashed at them anyway. He did no damage, but their spears glanced off his stolen armor. With a shout, he smashed his shield into the face of one of them. Like the wizard he and Perrif had killed, they were warded from blades but not impact. Leon grabbed a mace from a fallen man in his left hand, dropping the shield, and smashed as hard as he could. Even with the knowledge of how to pass the wards, the few surviving slaves were being outnumbered and surrounded. The boy Leon had punched, his nose still bleeding freely, had been rallied by Leon's actions, was smashing at anything he could see with rocks before being killed by a spear-thrust.

Further enraged, Leon began to fight more carelessly, and took a cut on his left shoulder. He dropped the mace.

The sword-wielding elf prepared to take Leon's head before a thrown spear killed him. A greater shout rose among the men as Perrif's band reached them and began to kill before the lightning began to strike around them, coming together in a single point.

The explosion when they made contact blinded all present, man and mer, and the first one to see their first savior was Perrif.

The massive bull looked at her. His voice rumbled deep, and he spoke slow, as though he chewed and rethought each word before speaking. "I am Morihaus. I am the answer to your prayer to my mother. Now, I shall follow you, and your people shall be free."

At that, Perrif raised the war-cry again, and Leon, his vision returned, looked at the bull as he charged the Ayleids.

"Fight them!" He yelled, and ran. He scooped up another mace in his left hand and charged behind Perrif and Morihaus towards the Master's palace. It was time to shatter the world with noise and blood and steel behind the furious form of the raging bull.


	40. FEE: StarMade Knight

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Star-Made Knight

The battle didn't last long after Morihaus arrived. The magicks of the Ayleids were strong, but even protected from blades, the horns of Morihaus were too sharp, his body too strong, to be stopped by the spellcrafts of mere mortals.

When the battle was seen to be over, the humans milled about for a moment, unsure what to do. They hadn't expected success, and the sudden onset of the realization that they were not only free, but alive to enjoy it, stopped several.

But not Leon. His hatred still burned with a thousand worlds of flame, as did Perrif's. The free men began to rummage through the granaries and wine-cellars of the Elven aristocracy they had killed. The poorest of the elfkind had been taken prisoner. They were left in the dungeons of the great Palace of their former master. As the free men began to gorge themselves on the fine meats and breads that their toil gave to the Slavemasters, Morihaus plodded slowly towards Perrif, gore-horned and snorting past his nose-ring.

He began to glow with a green light, and everyone turned as the smell of falling leaves exploded from him. In the place of the bull stood now a man. Tall, broad-shouldered, with leathery skin, a face like an anvil, and a long brown beard. His nose-ring stayed, and he was in fine mail of ebony that hummed with powerful magic.

His left hand thumped hard onto his chest, and his voice boomed with a slow, deliberate strength as he began to address Perrif. "Hail, Paravant. Hail, first of the Free Humans. I am Morihaus, son of Kyne. My mother's Handmaiden heard your prayer, that she may send me and give you rage. She has done so.

"Your task is not finished. It has only just begun. Even now, the armies of the Ayleidoon are coming to destroy you. Free men are felt to be abominations by the slavemaster king, Umaril Half-Elf, and he will not rest until you are all captured and tortured to death. I will stand by you to fight them off, and then to free all the men of Tamriel."

Perrif, now Paravant, bowed her head to Morihaus. "Hail, Morihaus son of Kyne. We are forever grateful to you and your mother."

She looked at Leon and nodded.

"Come on, men. We have a horde of bastard elves who want our blood, let's get ready for 'em!" Leon shouted. He motioned for a small group of men to join him and began running towards the walls as each man scattered to gather everything they'd need for a siege.

They knew they'd need food and water. They began to look for the in-city wells and brought as much food in off the fields as they could while Leon and his men, two Nedes like himself and a Kothringi, began to place stones and pots along the tops of the walls.

The two Nedes were brother and sister, the brother was named David and the sister Sarah. The Kothringi name they couldn't pronounce, so his name was Allan to them.

"Allan, run those pots up further and fill them with oil. It's in the south storehouse." Leon said, "David, Sarah, Keep the stones near the oil, and make sure they're over the gates. We need to keep the bastards outside the walls at any cost."

They nodded. They had also been secretly taught how to speak.

After three days of preparations, the Ayleidoon appeared.

Sarah spotted them first, from the top of the wall.

"Elves!" She shouted. "Close the gates!"

The gates were shut and bolted, then barricaded with everything they could find. Leon tied a Ayleid protection-bead in his hair, and had his three do the same.

The first wave was comprised of grunts, all in armor of metals instead of magicks. The defenders threw the stones at them, but made sure not to use the oil yet. Paravant had been very specific the previous night.

Aside from rocks, they threw down spears, chairs, anything heavy they could get up to the walls. Leon's arms were aching from the effort by the time the first lines had retreated back, and the sky had begun to cloud. The second line were naked, but had beads in their hair. The stones and other weapons bounced harmlessly off of them.

"Now!" Paravant shouted as they reached the gates.

Leon grabbed the handle of an oil vat with Allan, and they pushed with all their might. The burning liquid coated the attackers. The screams and stench of burning flesh made Leon's head reel and his stomach turn.

The few survivors of that wave began to retreat. Now, the defenders were all but out of weapons, and the next wave was defended by spells more powerful than any bead. As the magicks began to collide against the wall, Leon gritted his teeth. He, Allan, David and Sarah slid down to the ground and got ready to fight at the breach as soon as it formed.

Paravant and Morihaus appeared next to them. They were both smiling. Leon was scared deep inside, but seeing Morihaus smile made him feel confident. The autumn leaves smell came back as Morihaus transformed and bellowed, charging as soon as the hole opened and goring several Ayleids.

It began to rain. Leon and his group charged after Morihaus and Paravant, staying in the breach itself to keep any elves from entering. The wind began to whip around Morihaus in a torrent, and it launched off of him, flattening and shredding an entire Ayleid platoon. The rain rang off of Leon's helmet as Sarah's spear gutted the Ayleid about to kill him. He hit Allan's opponent with a mace-stroke, then cut down the elf behind David. He roared, and Morihaus roared.

And Pelinal roared.

From the back of the Ayleid lines, came the sound. A war-cry unlike any other. All the other combatants stopped momentarily in shock. A white light formed, then launched towards the wall, cutting down hundreds of Ayleids. Pelinal stood, his armor caked in blood and feathers, His chest open and empty, his left hand of killing light. He ran into the lines.

One elf tried to hit him with a spear. He grabbed the shaft and drilled him with the killing light. He drew his sword and cut down two more Ayleids, then brained another with his mace. His armor, unlike anything any there had seen before, deflected a sword-stroke before he head-butted the hapless elf, crushing his skull. His left hand began to glow again, and he forced out the killing light, taking down another century of soldiers. The broken attackers, in fear of the demon, began to flee. Morihaus and Pelinal butchered them all.

As Morihaus' rage subsided, so too did the storm. As it calmed, the knight approached Paravant. He knelt before her.

"I am Pelinal. I have come to take care of your elf problem."

"Rise." Paravant told him. "Where did you come from?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I am here to destroy the Slavemaster Race." Pelinal said.

Leon looked at Pelinal, who began to take off his helmet, showing the young face with white, long hair.

"There are many battles ahead. You will need a knight like me." He said. Paravant looked at him long and hard.

"Very well." Paravant said. "Leon, bring him into the city and show him our defenses. If he has suggestions, take them. We can't leave our people helpless when we go on the march."


	41. FEE: Campaign

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: the Campaign

Three days after they managed to defend Sard from the Ayleidoon, Leon had lost Pelinal. He found him, caked with blood and feathers yet again, speaking to Paravant.

He showed his mace, sticky with the blood, and said, "These were their eastern Chieftains, no longer full of their talking."

Paravant was shocked. Pelinal had more than proved himself when he had come to their defense, but this was more than they ever had hoped for. "You killed all of them? And what of their armies?"

"Dead and gone with their tongue-flapping rulers." Pelinal said, taking off his helmet and pouring water over his head. His hair turned from red to pink, then back to white. He took a long drought and then spat. "We can charge at the heart of them now, uninterrupted in our assaults until we reach their greater holds."

"Brilliant. Very well." Paravant said. "We will begin the march tomorrow."

"I have already challenged King Haromir of Copper and Tea to a duel. We will meet at the Tor while your armies destroy his. He is a weaker lord, but his slaves will bolster your ranks when made free men." Pelinal said.

The next day, they began the march as planned, north to the Tor. Leon was put at the head of a battalion of men, all marching behind Pelinal, Paravant and Morihaus. When they reached the stronghold, the sky had turned red and fiery gates stuck from the ground before the walls.

"Bastards." Pelinal said. "Their sorcerers have summoned Daedra."

"No problem." Morihaus said, lightning arcing between his horns. "We'll take care of them, fight your duel, Uncle."

Morihaus charged. The armies of Paravant charged with him as Pelinal ran around to the dueling ground.

Leon's battalion hit just after the first line. Crashing into a rank of black-armored Daedra. Rage pulsing in his ears, he hammered away with mace and sword. When more began to pour out of the fiery gates, Leon realized that they may have quite a problem.

Pelinal reached the Dueling ground, already caked with blood and feathers. Haromir laughed from behind his magical barrier. "Now, 'Knight,' what will you do?"

Pelinal growled. "Do not test me." His left hand began to glow white.

Outside, Morihaus gored Dremora after Dremora. Paravant speared many beside him.

"We'll need to do something about those gates." She said.

"When the sorcerer responsible is killed, they will fall. We must pray my Uncle succeeds." Morihaus answered, crushing an Ayleid skull to powder with a roar.

Leon stabbed a Dremora through the head, then ripped a new sword from it's hands. He shouted as he crushed the head of a gold-armored Daedra with his mace. He dropped it, and grabbed up a shield. He caught an arrow and found Sarah, David and Allan.

"Having trouble?" Allan asked.

"No, easy as can be." Leon said, ramming his shield into an Ayleid face.

Pelinal raised his hand. "I have come, as I said I would." His hand began to glow so bright, Haromir had to shield his eyes. "I have returned…" Pelinal said, his voice echoing, **"To pass judgment on your kind!"** Pelinal let loose his killing light in the form of a massive drill. He thrust it full force into the barrier, shattering it like glass.

"No…" Haromir whimpered. "Please, I'll give you anything!"

**"Then do as I wish and die!" **Pelinal roared, his killing light raised, he bored through Haromir's head like paper.

The armies saw the gates crumble to ash, the Daedra stopped reforming.

"Now is the chance!" Morihaus shouted.

"Charge for the gate!" Paravant shouted.

Leon obeyed. He killed any daedroth or elf that stood between him and the gate, and his friends did the same.

Morihaus smashed it with his horns, and within minutes the township was theirs. The battle was won, and the campaign started.


	42. FEE: Tattoo Magic

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Tattoo Magic

The next morning after the town had been searched thoroughly, Leon woke up with a splitting headache. This was strange, since he hadn't had any of the Ayleid liquor. He tried to stand, but his limbs all ached and felt strangely weak. He rubbed his neck, and a jolt of stinging pain seared down his back and up into his head. He hissed. There was blood on his hand.

He looked around. There were only his fellow men around, sleeping where they had fallen after they were convinced the town was theirs, inside an aristocrat's old palace. He shrugged it off. If it was the work of the elves, they had failed to kill him.

When he stepped outside, his eyes stung briefly. The sunlight seemed brighter. Some other men had already awakened, and were celebrating throughout the town as the chains on their brethren were cast off.

"Another clan of men are free." Pelinal said, startling Leon.

"Pelinal." He said. "Yes. Soon we'll all be free."

"It will be a hard fight, but yes. Now come. The Paravant wants her greatest commanders to meet with her."

Pelinal led Leon to where Paravant, Morihaus, and the other commanders were standing. They noticed that in his human form, Morihaus held Paravant by the waist.

"Good. Are you alright, Leon? You look unwell." Paravant said, her eyes clouding with concern at the wound in Leon's neck.

"I'm fine, Paravant." Leon said. "It's nothing."

"Very well." She said, unconvinced. "In any case, the Ayleidoon has taken notice of us. Pelinal's slaying of the eastern Chieftains has slowed them, but their vengeance will be terrible. He has told us of a way we may be able to give ourselves an edge."

"Do any of you know magic?" Pelinal asked.

Leon nodded. He knew one spell, the creation of vines. He had learned it by necessity. As a child, he had fallen into a hole in the fields, whether Ayleid sport or coincidence none could say. In his fear, he had conjured the vines to climb up. It had almost killed him.

"I have a means of magic that can pass the barriers of the elves. It is not without the price of blood and pain. Are you willing?" Pelinal asked. All present nodded.

"Then bring your men to me this evening."

That same evening, Leon and his men met in the town square with all the others. Paravant spoke to them all.

"Our savior Pelinal has found us magic." She said. "With it, we can smash the spellcrafts of the slavemasters. Any warriors who wish to gain this power, stay here. All others, leave."

The children, the old, and the crippled all filed away. Then one by one, the warriors filed into the small hut. Out of his men, David was first. He lasted ten minutes. He left looking haggard and scared, but he had the tattoo of a sword on his forearm. Allan was next, lasting half an hour. He had a star on his forehead, a hammer on his back, and two more hands on the back of his own. Next was Sarah. She lasted the rest of the night. When she left, she had serpents all over her arms and legs.

After the soldiers came the commanders. Leon was second to last. Each of the commanders had taken one day in Pelinal's hut, and come out with various tattoos.

Leon stayed in there, in agony, for three days.

First, Pelinal ripped through his mind. He dug deep, and brought every drop of black, putrid hate to the surface. It welled up through Leon's eyes, nose, mouth and ears into a dripping liquid sphere over his body. With a vicious knife, Pelinal scooped some out, and made the cuts all over. The first was in the shape of a broken heart over his real one. Then he etched in the likeness of a sword rending it in two. From the divide, lines were drawn, going up and down to trace down Leon's arms and legs, ending each on his fingers and toes. Upwards they also curled, towards his face, one line heading straight down to his chin from his left eye, and from his chin back down to the heart, with a spiral on his right cheek connected to the right side of the sundered heart.

After his three days in purest hateful agony without any sleep or food or water, Leon stepped out. Paravant would go in next, and come out one full week later as Al-Esh, the seeming-redundant High High, and would be called Alessia by the men. But Leon didn't know that yet. He wanted to eat, and drink, and then sleep. He knew that the marks on his body and soul burned with magic, magic that he now could use. What he didn't know yet was that when next he went to sleep, he would change. Violently and dramatically. Three days had passed since he had awakened with the wound on his neck. In those three days, a contagion had worked through his body, polluting every inch of him with its power.

This was his last night as a human, When next he woke, he would be a demon.


	43. FEE: Beast Fangs

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Beast Fangs

Leon was dreaming. It would be the first of many thousands of nightmares, but unlike the others he would find later in his life, his dreams were of horrors that were happening at the time he was asleep. This first nightmare crashed over him like a tsunami of pure terror.

Alessia had sent an army southeast to conquer another city as she prepared to receive her tattoos, the process that would be a full week of agony. Leon saw this army camped under the stars, when suddenly they were bathed in light from above. Flying in the air before them was a being unlike any other. His face was a look of pure and serene divinity, his ears were long, but rounder than those of most elvenkind. From his back, enormous white wings spread like those of an eagle. He hovered out of range of the weapons, and raised his hands to the stars, beginning a prayer incantation:

"Divine Magnus! Father of my queen! I, Umaril Half-Elf, ask you to shine your purifying rays upon these inferior beings! Let all the stars in the sky, windows to your world, be their enemies! Rest in peace, inferior beings! Cast! Thy! JUDGEMENT!"

In a way, it was beautifully efficient. A light burst from every star in the sky and each launched towards them, leaving none alive. To Leon, seeing the power of the Ayleid High King firsthand, it was the most terrifying thing in the world.

He woke up where he had fallen after he had gotten some food and drink. His eyes blazed as the lights from the candles compounded with the light from the moons coming through a hole in the roof. His skin itched and his two canine teeth felt like they were trying to leap out of his gums. He yelled as they burst out, trailing blood, and a new set, longer and sharper than the first, instantly replaced them. He felt each heartbeat as it sent a wave through every blood vessel in his body, an arc of black magic escaping through his voice and vision as it leapt from his heart outwards. His tattoos began to glow with a red light as his shouts turned to animal snarls, then silence, then laughter. Low and calm at first, but it gradually became higher, more maniacal, until it was a sound more fearful than any a human could produce.

All the freed men looked towards the shack he had fallen asleep in. The noise died down, but only David, Sarah and Allan were brave enough to go and investigate.

"Commander Leon!" Allan shouted when he entered, seeing him limp and unmoving on the floor.

"He's not breathing." David said, turning him over. "He has no pulse but… his heart is still beating?" Sarah said when she crouched over him.

Leon's eyes flashed open, darting over each of them.

"I… see." He muttered. He saw their blood vessels, running so smooth under their skin, even Allan's thick scales. "I see you at last."

He shook his head. "I'm alright."

"Alright?" Allan asked, "you're pale as death!"

"Look at his eyes…" Sarah said. They weren't green anymore. That color had been replaced by a yellow-orange.

"Really, I'm fine." Leon said, pulling himself up. He felt light. Far lighter than he should have felt. He took a step, and nearly fell over.

"Maybe I'm not…" he said. "It won't get in my way, just give me a moment." He said, waving his friends off. He tentatively took another step. It was easier. He was getting used to the new weight. Was it weight? He saw a table of Ayleid craftsmanship. He grabbed a leg with one hand and threw it with a heave, smashing it against the wall.

"Looks like," He said, grinning a malicious half-grin that showed one of his new, elongated teeth as his friends gawked, "I am after all."

He went out into the starlight. He could still see the whisps from Umaril's assault on the marching troops. He would need to tell Alessia about that when she was finished. He walked through the darkened streets for a little while, seeing people's blood vessels. At some points, he would be compelled to do something, but he didn't know what the feeling was, so he ignored it at first. As he continued to walk, he began to get a clearer idea: this feeling, this intense desire that clouded his thoughts with deep crimson, was that he needed to take his new fangs, cut open the main blood vessel in a person's neck, and drink away.

The thought repulsed him a little bit, he didn't want to harm any humans and he could already tell that this desire would cause him to drink to the last drop, until he remembered the prisoners.

He went to the makeshift jail. Honestly, he had wanted to put all their warriors to death as a safety measure anyway, but they hadn't. He opened a cage, grabbed and threw out a warrior, then closed it again before anyone thought to try and flood him out. He picked up the warrior with one hand and threw him again for good measure, then drained him of his blood.

He began to walk away from the body, when he fell to his knees. He was overcome by his own power as it burst from him, lighting the body and much of the surrounding area on fire. Without thinking, he leapt to the top of a building, then across the roofs of several more to get away. The fire was already being put out by the time he returned to the streets, smiling as he felt the strength in his muscles, begging to be used again.

"Soon enough." He said to himself. He had found the power to get his vengeance.


	44. FEE: Night Battle

_**Author's Note: **__Hi everyone. As some of you know, I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo this November, so I might not have time to write too much of this until December. So on the last available day, I'm giving you this. I hope you enjoy the fall of Ninendava as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also, special thanks to Kirkbride for writing the Song of Pelinal, where most of the First era Echo comes from in some way or another._

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Night Battle

Nine days after Leon's tattoos exploded into a raging inferno because of his strange transformation, he was marching again behind Alessia, Morihaus and Pelinal. In the preceding days, he had learned quite a bit about his new condition, both through experience and from Pelinal and Morihaus themselves.

The dawn that came after he lost control of his new magic power and started the fire, he noticed an itching, then a burning sensation. Completely by accident, he discovered that it had to do with the sun, that when blocked from the sunlight he was safe. So he used anyone he could find as a runner between himself and the three leaders, who came to him as soon as they could after Alessia's week of torment. He had gone and stolen the warriors who had surrendered one each night.

Alessia was just as stumped as he was, but Pelinal's eyes glinted with a sadistic enjoyment.

"This may be a great help to us." He said, looking to Morihaus.

Morihaus nodded. "Yes Uncle, his new powers could help to tip the scales in our favor."

Leon and Alessia both said at the same time, "Stop being mysterious and spill it!"

Pelinal nodded. "Apparently, you have been transformed into a vampire."

"Vampire?" Leon asked.

"A vampire is a night creature, a being spawned of the Daedroth Prince Molag Bal." Morihaus explained. "They- you- will begin to burn in the sunlight, and will be burned by silver weapons as well. Fire will also burn you faster that it would have in your human form."

"However," Pelinal said, picking up a thick wooden plank, "normal, mundane weapons will barely scratch you!" He brought down the plank hard. Leon's arm leapt up out of instinct, far faster than he thought himself capable, and it shattered against his forearm. There was no mark or pain.

"Also in exchange, you have been granted superior strength and speed. Over time, you will also unlock powerful magic abilities that are sealed from human minds." Morihaus cut in.

"Last night, my tattoos…" Leon said, "They glowed and my body burst with magic fire. Was that from this as well?"

Alessia shook her head. "No, most of us had something like it."

"It may be that your power will be enhanced by it, but normally vampires cannot have their hatred made flesh as you did. It was simply a coincidence you were turned afterwards." Pelinal said, gesturing idly, "I truly don't know."

"We may find out soon." Alessia said. "we will march against them again. We will begin at Ninendava."

So they marched. They went by night, to keep Leon from burning. As they went, Leon became more and more thirsty, but every time he tried to drink it immediately lurched back up. Pelinal, when Leon rested in a special box during the day, explained as he trained the boy Huna with the spear.

"You thirst for the blood of men and mer and beastman." Pelinal said. "Never again will you taste the food of man or drink the liquids of the earth, instead taking from the living flesh of your enemies."

They continued to march. They went until they saw the shining white edifice in the moonlight as the stars shined in the sky, curiously watching the world they left behind.

Pelinal put up his left hand, which began to glow. The light blinded Leon for a moment, before he realized that everyone around him was glowing as well, from their tattoos. Alessia shined a radiant blue as she drew her spear. He drew out his stolen daedric weapon, which felt so light in his new hands, and his own tattoos began to glow red.

Pelinal let loose a road echoed across the Paravant's army, and they rushed forward.

"Come forward and face me, you cowardly whoreson!" Pelinal's great shout rent the stones in the field between them and the city. "Elf-King! Gourdhaur the Shaper! Come out and face the end of your world!" His killing-light rent three unlucky guards in half as he jumped over the wall effortlessly.

The armies of Ninendava were well-trained archers. In the darkness, it was easy for them to see where the army of Alessia was by their glowing tattoos, but they moved in such a mass that they couldn't tell who they were shooting. They fired into the mass of light, their beak-arrows being deflected by beads or armor.

Pelinal stalked through the streets, bathing in the blood of any living thing he saw, slaying with sword, mace and light indiscriminately. He drilled the great door of the Meridian Temple open with a forceful thrust. Inside, Gourdhaur the Shaper stood smiling arrogantly.

'So you come to me willingly." He said, raising his hands and thrusting his magic forward. Two great stones shaped into giant warriors and charged at Pelinal. He jumped out of the way as a great stone fist impacted the ground.

Leon threw his magic outwards towards the great gate of Ninendava. His eyes and tattoos began to glow brighter still as he felt the rush of battle wash over him and the arrows ding against his armor. A few nicked his flesh, but the wounds healed almost instantly as he roared his assault of the gate.

Pelinal cut the fist off, but it shaped into a smaller stone knight. He shattered it's head with his mace then was thrown into the wall by the second stone giant. His strange armor protected his body and left a great break in the wall. His killing light became a drill and broke through the living body of the stone knight as the first stone giant grew a new hand.

The door began to buckle under the pressure of the combined spells. With a great Bellow, Morihaus took on his true form of the great winged bull and roared his strength. His massive horns made the final impact, breaking the gate. The armies of Alessia began to storm the city.

Pelinal glared at the arrogantly smiling Gourdhaur the Shaper as he manipulated the space around him.

"You dare…" Pelinal whispered, his eyes beginning to glow. "You dare…." He said, "YOU DARE TO MANIPULATE SPACE!?" He roared, charging through the dust of the stone knight towards Gourdhaur. The realm of Shor, the king of the gods, you dare to blaspheme His domain with your slaver taint!?" Pelinal screamed as he charged, bursting his killing light through the leg of a stone giant that got in the way. His rage erupted in a massive Thu'um, shattering the barrier around the Ayleid Lord. With incredible speed, he drew his scimitar and blocked the first blow. Pelinal snarled as he brough his mace around, clipping Gourdhaur in the forehead. The momentary distraction was enough, and the killing light opened his chest. With a great heave, Pelinal smashed Gourdhaur's head on the altar.

Leon ran through, his body and mind burning red as his blade rose and fell again. It slipped from his hands at one point, and he ripped a bronze longsword from an Ayleid hand before slaying the former wielder. He ran and killed and roared until all was silent.

Pelinal cast a spell to destroy Gourdhaur's body completely, to prevent welkynd necromancies from reviving him and Alessia's flag was raised. He walked outside, his mind awash with sick joy. Another of the blasphemers was dead.

Leon saw Pelinal walk out coated in blood, the two still statues that were the stone giants turning to dust behind him. He would find shelter until the next dusk, then they would continue on their quest to create a world where all men were free or dead.


	45. FEE: Campaign Trail

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Campaign Trail

Leon shook his head off the next evening. He was becoming quite used to sleeping by day. Pelinal, Alessia and Morihaus often were up planning late into the night, or rather Alessia and Morihaus planned, and Pelinal tried to pace away his growing bloodlust. Leon found them inside the palace of the dead sorcerer-king. They had cleaned themselves up, and shined their armor. Leon had splashed water on his face and buffed the dents out of his scant plates. He felt strange, being dirtier even than Pelinal, whose hair had been returned to its white sheen even if his eyes still burned.

"Leon, we were just discussing you." Alessia said.

"We think we may have come up with a plan that will help you use your unique abilities without worry as to your weaknesses, as well as keep our entire army from needing to accommodate your… change." Morihaus said. He was in his human form. His forehead was square, with small lumps that Leon knew to be containing his horns. His hair and beard were the same brownish color as his fur. His movements were the opposite of Pelinal. Where the knight was quick, jerky, and somewhat unpredictable, Morihaus was slow and deliberate until a battle began, and was never too quick to incite one.

"What do you need me to do?" Leon said. "As long as I can kill the slavers and keep freeing our own people, I'm happy."

"Then you'll like this." Alessia said. "We are going to head North, to the Bridge of Heldon. The men-of-'kreath are said to have once lived there."

"How? Were they slaves there first before being brought south?"

Morihaus shook his head. "You are the first generation of men from Cyrod to know freedom in generations, but it was not always so. There are men to the North, called Nords. They are free, as you are, and strong, fearsome warriors who know no fear. The men-of-'kreath were once like them. We seek to gain their kinship and join their army to ours."

"Well, what do you need me to do?" Leon asked, slamming his fist on the fine table of the dead king, breaking the top layer of stone. "I'm ready to go!"

"Along the path," Morihaus said, gesturing to a map and pointing at a snaking road heading first southeast, then east, then north "Are many Ayleid outposts, camps and garrisoned cities. Approaching through this road by daylight would be suicide."

"That's where you come in." Alessia said. "With an elite group of soldiers, you will enter them at night and clear the path for us. You will be given three days to go further ahead before the main body of our army is ready to march. By tomorrow evening, we need you to have picked your soldiers, fifty of them, and will ambush and destroy the obstacles by any means you consider necessary."

Leon half-smiled with a satisfied huff. "All right, leave the clearing to me!"

He went out and picked his fifty soldiers. Among them were Allan, David and Sarah, who had proven themselves in battle and he trusted with his life, as well as many others who had distinguished themselves in the previous battles.

"We've been chosen to go forward together, to clean out the path for the main body of us to take to the lands of the men called Nords, to bolster our ranks so we can better fight the slavers." Leon explained. "We will be living by night, in the shadows. As they sleep, we will raid. As our army marches slowly behind us, we will dart in and out, never seen. Prepare yourselves, we leave tomorrow night."

Leon, as was fast becoming his habit, found the prisoners, Ayleid warriors who had bowed to their cowardice and surrendered. He picked a large one to feed from, as he needed all the strength he could muster. He slept during the day. His sleep wasn't like it had once been. Where before he would sleep, and move around, muttering noisily as the horrors of what the previous day had been flashed before his eyes, now he slept silently and cold as stone, like a dead man, and he saw flashes of things he had never seen before. He saw mountains, sailing over them in the cold winds he saw a young maiden, crying. Her hands were covered in blood. She looked at him with hungry red eyes and he awoke just as she devoured him.

When he woke, he shouted. His eyes darted around the room. It was night. The room was pitch dark, but his eyes saw all the shapes in astonishing clarity, and in their full colors as though the room were lit by magic. He stood up, grabbed the sword he had taken in the previous battle, and inspected it. It was well kept. His Daedric weapon had disappeared, so he decided to keep the bronze. Where before a longsword was unwieldy and heavy to him, his new strength found it so light it was almost not there.

He left the small house he had claimed as his own and walked outside the gates. His men were waiting.

"All right! Let's go. The first place on the road is a garrisoned fortress called Moranda. We need to move as far ahead as we can. In three days, the main body sets off, and we need to be well and ahead!" Leon barked, his mouth twisting into his half-grin.

They set off. They kept to the road at first, but stayed to the edges of it, so they could duck in and ambush if the had to. As the moons sailed across the sky, they grew closer and at last they ducked into the thick undergrowth. Leon remembered looking at the map, where Moranda was supposed to be. He remembered it like he was looking at it right then. He looked with his new eyes and saw a light in the distance, weakly shining through the trees and plants.

He moved towards it, and saw the fortress. It was late, all the guards were asleep or tired. He could hear them all so acutely it hurt. He didn't know it, but the thrill of the assault was mixing with his new nature and causing a reaction. His soul burned, and he darted through the low bushes, crawling like some feral thing, and looked up almost constantly. One guard was sitting at the wall facing him. His men were at the tree line. He had come up with a plan. He motioned for them to stay back. He reached out, touched the wall. He found a protruding stone, and suddenly sprung up, uncurling his legs and leaping like a demon frog. He landed silently on the wall. He approached the guard. He could hear his heartbeat, the blood coursing through his veins sluggishly as he struggled to stay awake.

Leon felt his own mind swim. He felt a part seem to leave him, and float in the air between them. He moved the feeling forward, enveloping the guard's mind and making him fall into a deep sleep. He drank to the last drop, and the empty husk fell to the ground outside the wall with a dull thud. He motioned for his men to move around to the front of the fortress. He saw them shift through the darkness. They stopped in front of the gate.

Leon jumped from one wall to the gate tower. He went inside. The guard was more awake and alert in there. Leon felt himself melt away into the shadows. Silently, he approached. His blade passed into the mer's chest and out his back, splattering the gate controls with blood. He hadn't had time to scream.

Grabbing the counterweight chains, Leon crushed them with his strength. The gate swung open, and his men entered. They crept into the rooms. His men began to kill the sleeping soldiers. Leon approached the barracks, but hesitated.

_Killing them while they sleep…_ Leon thought, _It's too low. It's stooping to their level." _He let his men continue for the moment, and jumped to the window of the commandant.

The commandant was wide awake and armed. Leon slithered into the window.

"This fortress is ours." He said, raising his sword.

"Over my dead body!" The elf replied. He held two curved blades, and wore only beads as armor. His hair was long and blond, his eyes were green and his face was worn with age, even by the standards of the elves.

"If that's the way you want it!" Leon shouted, jumping at him. The commandant slashed, but Leon had already moved aside, then batted the swords out of his hands.

"I give you one last chance. I hate you, and your entire race, and all elves from all lands." Leon said, holding the commandant up by the throat. "I'm still giving you the chance. Surrender, or you and all your subordinates will die. You can save the rest of them, if you act quickly."

"I spit on your filth, inferior being!" The commandant snarled, and he spat on Leon's face.

"Very well." Leon said. He channeled magic through his tattoos and body, and it became lightning. Leon made sure the death of the old warrior was painless and instant. The ashes spun around him and out the window. Something inside Leon was disgusted as the last of the soldiers woke up just in time to see their deaths and screamed.

_This isn't what I want… is it? Killing weak old mer and sleeping guardsmer?_


	46. FEE: Worthy

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Worthy

The night after the slaughter, Leon awoke, uttering a gasp of life. He was beginning to understand some of the changes to his body. He knew that when he "slept" he didn't breathe. His thoughts were a blur at first as consciousness returned after his daily terrors. He remembered after the fight he had no blood to take. He shook his head off and calculated. They could move faster than a massed army. They had left one night before, and two days from then the army would begin the march. He threw on his armor, which had been added to from the bodies of the soldiers, and stepped out into the moonlight. Masser was full, Secunda was half dark.

Leon went ahead. He knew that the others would need time to prepare. They had to eat, drink, and pass waste, transition from sleep to wakefulness through the dull routines before a march. He only had the two states. He heard the slithering steps of sneaking humanoid forms. He jumped over the wall and landed outside of it. Two forms. He followed one. He entered a clearing, and saw a strange being the like of which he had never known.

Its silhouette was that of a shapely woman. But Leon's eyes were not deceived. Its skin was made of bark, its fingers twigs, its hair moss and its feet mushrooms. It was a twisted mash together of beauty and hideousness. He smelled the breath of Kyne emanating from it, and he knew it wouldn't harm him.

He stepped out into the clearing.

"Beware, once-human." It said, before disappearing into the earth below it. Leon started towards it, then heard a noise below human perception. He ducked and turned, his hand reaching for his bronze longsword.

He saw another unfamiliar form. This one smelled of exotic lands and strange gods. Its face looked like that of a cat, but its form was somewhat humanoid. It stood on bent legs that looked ready to spring. Its teeth were razor sharp and twisted into a grin that may have been malicious. Its eyes were a bright, intelligent yellow. It held a curved blade in its hand.

"You are quick, human." It said, Leon's eyes widened when he heard it could speak. "I am Rizzar'al, commander of the Khajiit auxiliary of the Ayleidoon."

"Yeah?" Leon said, readying his sword, "Well, I'm Leon, commander of the Shor Party of free humans. Now shut up and fight me like a man!" Leon ran at him, and the catlike being jumped up, slapping Leon's face with his tail, then slashed at his back. Leon spun and blocked, but the next blow opened his left forearm. The wound closed quickly, but it stung.

"Not bad for a human," Rizzar'al smirked, letting loose a flurry of attacks. Leon blocked most, but a few managed to cut in. "I see the mongrel humans are resorting to using blood monsters!"

The beads tangled in Rizzar'al's "hair," at least the long fur at the top of his head, began to glow. Leon slashed at one, and it fell out. Rizzar'al stumbled back, seeming to be ponderously slow. Leon pressed the attack. "And you… whatever-you-are, you're using elf-magic to keep up!" He slammed his sword down, and Rizzar'al stepped aside. Leon's momentum kept him moving forward and Rizzar'al tripped him.

"Stand up! On your feet!" Rizzar'al shouted. "I won't kill a being down, even a mongrel human and blood fiend."

"What are you, anyway?" Leon snarled, standing up winded. "You don't look like any elf I've seen."

"I am a Khajiit, my people are said to have once been elves. The goddess Azurah changed us to the superior form of a cat." Rizzar'al charged. "Enough of the history lesson!" Leon jumped aside, and an arrow sailed between them.

"Humph." Rizzar'al sneered. "A scale-man?"

Allan readied another arrow. "We Kothringi will be proud again, like our Argonian kin." He let it loose, but Rizzar'al was not there. He had vanished into the night.

"We heard the fight. I came to investigate." Allan explained. "If he could keep up with your new body, we may have a problem."

"He had bead-magicks." Leon said. "I guess it evened the odds."

Leon felt a strange rush. "That… thing. That sorta-human sorta-cat thing…" he breathed slowly. "That was the kind of fight I wanted, only… I want to find him again."

"We call that a worthy opponent." Allan said, his forked tongue licking his alligator teeth. "Someone we can fight on equal terms instead of one having the upper hand."

"Well, enough waxing poetic." Leon said. "Is everyone ready? I smell cooking fires along the road, it may be they know about us."

The newly named Shor Party, Leon didn't know where the name had come from, marched along their road. Leon's instincts had been right. A camp of Ayleid soldiers, awake and armed to the teeth, was waiting for them. Leon half-smiled.

"What was that about worthy opponents, Allan?" Leon said, drawing his sword.

They all drew their weapons behind him. Leon felt another rush as his tattoos began to glow. He felt some sort of inhuman noise escape his lips. He wasn't sure if it was rage or joy or disgust, but it kept getting louder until it was a full battle-cry. His men echoed it as they ran towards the camp. The first line of Ayleids were taken by surprise as they were cut down. The second had drawn spears with beaks for tips. Leon jumped over one and thrust into a head with his sword, flipping over in a movement that felt oddly natural, he ripped the sword out and cleaved another skull in two. Behind the tight battle-line of the Ayleids, he could kill two more before they turned. He roared again as his tattoos echoed out in a burst of energy, sending them flying back in a circle. He ran at one, stabbing him, then spun and beheaded another. He tasted blood on his lips, and his tattoos glowed even brighter.

He ran towards the commander's tent, to face him in single combat. The elf used magic to float over the ground, and darted quickly out of Leon's reach, no matter how high he jumped. The tattoos down Leon's fingers itched and burned, and a fireball exploded outwards. Surprised by the magic attack, the fireball took the commander in the shoulder. He was thrown to the ground and dispatched.

Leon felt sickened after the battle was over. They had fought armed, alert soldiers but still had gone through little by way of a challenge. Something in him felt empty. He had faced the commander head-on, and he had danced aside with cheap, showy tricks.

"Let's keep going." Leon said.

"Do you know what my people would call you?" Allan asked as they began walking on into the night.

"No, what?"

"My people, some worship Hircine along with the Hist of my Argonian kin, animal and plant together. They would call you a blood knight. My father told me these things in secret, to spite the slavers. He would never have guessed this…"

"Do you wonder if he's still alive somewhere?" Leon asked.

"I don't really think about it." Allan answered. "Perhaps he is. I was given as dowry to a lord of Narfinsel from a lord of Veyond in the south, and then sold to the one who we destroyed in Sard. He was alive when I was taken."

Allan fell silent, and Leon spent the rest of the night thinking about the people who had fallen before him, all of his family. The last thought was of the only one he still held hope for. He knew where she would be if she were alive.

The city-fortress of the High King Umaril, the White-Gold Tower, in the house of the vassal Hektor.


	47. FEE: Dreams and Travel

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Dreams and Travel

When he slept, he dreamed, over the course of their travel along the road. His dreams drifted through space, jumping between the movements of the elves and, three days after they set off, the movements of the humans. He saw Pelinal annihilate anything that passed between them and their goals. He saw Umaril. Umaril, sitting on his throne in the Tower, laughing as the humans marched. To him, they were but insects. Insects tryng to tear down a god.

He saw Huna, the boy who Pelinal trained, die. He saw Pelinal go mad, unmaking the world around him, turning space into strength for his rage. He saw that Alessia had to make sacrifices to the gods or they would leave them. He saw battles. He also saw how far ahead they were.

By night, they marched. By day, Leon continued to dream.

He saw cities taken as the main army made small detours. He saw a man call Pelinal "Shazzarine" and be smothered by moths. He saw Alessia and the human form of Morihaus celebrating, then retiring to her tent together.

Then one night, at long last, he saw his enemies. He saw Rizzar'al, and Hektor as well. They were not aware of each other, but were both in Umaril's court. His massive wings enveloped the great wall behind him, as though it were part of the great artwork.

Rizzar'al was sent north to where they were. Hektor was told to stay within the city walls to protect the city when the humans attacked, as he knew they would.

They reached the bridge of Heldon, a name Leon did not understand, and there they waited until the armies of Alessia came.

They waited. Two days after they arrived, the Ayeidoon found them.

It was David who saw them first, as his sight was keen and he had the best vantage point. He ducked under the first beak-arrow in an assault of millions and told Leon. The Ayleidoon army was a mass of metal and magic against their paltry fifty men.

"So," Sarah said, defiance in her voice matching that in all their souls. "How many will we take down before we die?"

"As many as we can." Allan said, grabbing a sword in the long, blue fingers that were calloused with work and killing.

"We won't die here." Leon said. "We'll hold them until Alessia, Pelinal and Morihaus come, and then wait for the Nords."

They all stared at him. "Commander Leon," a youth named Kel said, "How? We are all ready to die for man's freedom. Do you mean-"

"I mean we'll win." Leon snapped. "I just... I can't explain it. we'll give it our all, and we'll beat them back. After all, we wouldn't want to give the main army and unfriendly reception to the bridge after all that?"

They looked, then slowly nodded, facing out to the enemy.

"All of you, together with me!" Leon shouted, "Show them the power..." Leon said, thinking breifly of everyone he had ever known, 'OF HUMANS!" His tattoos glowed white, and he held his hand forward. With a maighty roar a ball of white light burst from him, flowing over the armies of Umaril like a holy flood. Flesh ripped from Ayleid bone as leon was awakened to his true power.

"All right!" Allan said, running out, and everyone ran behind him and Leon. Blades arced in great crecents like the two moons that watched from above. Blood sprayed, and Leon felt every fiber of his being overflow with raw power. His hands trailing green fire and his eyes burning bright through the darkness, he looked as a demon to the Ayleidoon.

The Great General of the Ayleidoon charged him with five spears in celestial hands, and Leon jumped inside his range. One spear, driven by fear and instinct rather than will, drove through him, also impaling the general. with a war-cry that dwarfed all before, the ears of all combatants bled and the body of the general was made nothing.

His hand went to the hole in his chest. It was already closing. He was emptied. He needed blood. he grabed an elf and drained him dry, then burst again with power. Unstable, he began to float some distance from the ground. Remembering what he saw Umaril do in his dreams, he called up to the unbiased stars.

"Rain down... YOUR JUDGEMENT" He snarled at them, and they oblidged. Each rained the power of their light down across the battlefield, laying waste to the fleeing legion as leon fell unconsious.


	48. FEE: Unstable Overload

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Unstable Overload

Leons eyes opened and closed fitfully. He didn't see where he was most of the time. When he did, he still had no control. Multicolored lightning arced across his body, lurching out like some horrible energy serpent at anything close enough for it to vent on.

His nostrils flared, and black smoke burst out. His eyes were glowing, first white, then green, then black, then red, then other colors, never the same twice. Leon felt his energy jump to his hands, and they moved. Balling and unballing, he jurked up like a twisted puppet, snarling. He jumped, and out into the night he went, trailing ligntning. South, he bounded across trees and stones, destroying all in his path.

He wasn't sure what to do. There was more power than his body could handle, and it was constantly venting at the world around him. Only in activity did he find any solace, and then minor. He leapt back to the camp at the bridge, and languished in agony during the day, his power arcing out with nowhere to go.

It began to turn itself on him. At night he would run and jump to expend as much energy as possible, but with nothing to use itself on, his own power began to tear him apart. The aches and pains set him screaming, and kept him from is nightmarish sleep. As bad as his daily terrors were, the pain increased until it was far worse. Without sleep, his body began to grow pale and thin, his hands and fingers withering to animalian claws of skin and bone, his eyes began to glow red, and always there was the glowing energy from his tattoos.

He knew he needed some way to spend his power on a massive scale, if only to release the pressure. On his nightly jumping and running, which was next to useless, he lifted his hands and with a shout vaporised a tree. Still unsated, and terrified at his ever-growing power and what it was doing to him, He ripped into the energy of the earth and tore forth massive boulders.

Each he infused with his overflowing lights, and he threw them. They exploded in a brilliant display of explosions all the colors of the rainbow. That was when Rizzar'al finally found him.

"So, blood fiend," He said, stepping silently from the shadows. "You have grown in power. Well, so have I." He fingered the new beads in his mane. "Perhaps I can match you. Now there will be no scaled men to save you!" He drew his curved blade, as well as a dagger for his off-hand, and lowered himself to a fighting stance.

Drawing his bronze sword, Leon jumped with an incoherent shout. Rizzar'al dodged to the side and brought his own sword down. Leon turned and blocked it, discharging some of his energy along the edge to knock the Khajiit warrior back. With a single stride he had caught up to him, and slashed with a snarl. Rizzar'al managed to turn the blow aside with his dagger, but the edge skidded along his upper arm and the dagger was pried from his grip.

One of the beads, a red one, flashed and fire burst from his claws. Leon put his hands together, then pulled them apart. The fire parted and arced around him. He walked forward, the hole in the stream of flames inching closer to its caster. as soon as they saw each other, Rizzarr'al stopped the spell and slashed. Leon jumped over it, came up on all four of his paws. His sword clattered to the ground behind him.

Leon panted. The energy had mostly dispersed. He could still feel it building, but it no longer hurt him. Rizzar'al snarled, sprung backwards and gracefully grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"Wait!" Leon said. "Just wait. I don't want to kill you. At least I don't think I do."

Rizzar'al considered the human before him. Leon was more emaciated then, from lack of blood and sleep, than he had been as a human. He was also quite powerful, more than a match for the Khajiit warrior.

"Honestly," Rizzar'al said, "I have no desire to kill you either. I am a vassal of Umaril, and I was ordered to fight you. I will report your abilities to him, but this fight, for the moment, is over."

Rizzar'al grabbed a white bead from his mane, plucked it out and threw it to Leon. "There. That can only be used once. It will absorb your excess magicka until it is used. Learn how to control your power before you use it, or you'll be right back where you were before this meeting."

"Farewell." Leon said, "Thank you."

"Heh." Rizzar'al scoffed before vanishing back into the shadows.


	49. FEE: Allies from the North

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Allies from the North

Armed with Rizzar'al's white bead, Leon was able to keep his power in check. He felt it welling still, but it felt like it was being drained from him almost as fast as it was being produced. The white bead hung tied in his hair and had begun to swirl with color. Leon stood guard himself among the men of his company during the nights, his sharp monster eyes seeing the animals and other denizens of the world moving in the dark, but never any mer or beastmen.

For days they waited, each night Leon watched the camp, and each day he watched the armies of Alessia and the Ayleidoon, as well as an army massing to the north. He began to grow both nervous and exited as he began to realize that all three armies were converging on the bridge of Heldon. He warned his men about his visions, telling them to be aware that although Alessia was moving quickly, the Ayleidoon legions were vast beyond his ability to count, and that their allies the Nords would take some time to mobilize.

He sat behind the makeshift walls they had constructed alongside David and a spearwoman named Ina. Sarah and Allan were at the other front wall, and most of the company was sleeping.

"Any idea when they'll be coming?" David asked.

"No." Leon replied, blowing his unkempt hair out of his face. "I have no control over the visions. Alessia will get here first, then the Ayleids, then the men from the North. Beyond that I know nothing."

Ina tensed. "I hear something." She said, the purple tattoos on her ears glowing. "Footsteps. Lots of them."

Leon waited, then heard it too.

"Not in regular step. Mismatched armor and weapon types." Ina and Leon said simultaneously.

Then a horn blew in the distance, and off into the sky shot a blue ball of energy. Pulling the cold night air into his lungs, Leon welled up all his strength and shouted. When they heard the braying of Morihaus' bull form, they knew that Alessia had arrived.

"Stand down!" Leon shouted, "open the gates!"

The gates, really just a few sheets of armor stuck together by magic, swung open and Alessia, along with Morihaus in his bull form and Pelinal, predictably caked in blood and feathers, strode in before the rest of the army, which had grown exponentially as word of the rebellion spread. Leon began to kneel, but Alessia gestured him up.

"I won't stand on ceremony, Commander." She said, "now tell me everything."

And so Leon did, about how his power had grown unstable and how his vampire dreams were visions. When he got to the bead, Pelinal stopped him.

"That thing there, that Vortex Bead, you came about that in single combat with the enemy?" He asked.

"Vortex bead?" Leon asked.

"There were only ever four, and three have been used. How, I wonder, did this beastman come about it? Why would he give it to a commander in an enemy army?"

"He said he was a... vessel or something like that to Umaril." Leon said.

"A Vassal." Morihaus said, in his human form. "It is likely this Khajiit was forced into service of Umaril. Perhaps he is trying to ensure our victory?"

"In any case," Pelinal said, "The Vortex Bead will only respond to you, so keep it until there is no other option. Perhaps when we beseige White-Gold at last."

So Leon continued. He told them about the Ayleids and the Nords, and how their allies would not arrive until after their enemies. Alessia crossed her arms and, with authority, proclaimed "Let the bastards come. Those soft soldiers who have never known true struggle, who have only had to fight when victory was a foregone conclusion, will break against us, we humans who have struggled out from the jaws of despair and grown stronger for it."

The humans prepared, fixing and improving their scavaneged weapons and armor as best they could. They worked together to firtify the walls before at last, noon of a day after a fresh snow, they saw a wall of soldiers marching in step towards them.

For every hundred soldiers was a spellcaster, and for every one of them there were two bodyguards. The footsoldiers were clad in the finest of metals, the most impenetrable of armors. The wizards were naked save for loincloths and beads, and their bodyguards each had a fearsome suit of Daedric mail and beads draped on sashes over their shoulders.

Heedless of the danger, Pelinal ripped forth from the fortress as soon as he saw the legion. A mighty cry of bloodlust and hate burst from his lips as he rent a soldier in two. A mighty bellow from Morihaus and the bull charged after his uncle, goring soldiers on his massive horns.

Leon watched from under an awning. He had not drank blood, and so the sun would burn his flesh away if he stepped from the shadows. He knew he had only to wait until the legion got closer, then he could grab one and feed quickly. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Swinging around, Pelinal unleashed the killing light, and blood sprayed from the seperated bodies. Morihaus' gore-soaked horns swung in a wide arc, but they were slowly being pushed back. At Alessia's signal, the two jumped away and archers rained death upon them.

One of the wizard's bodyguards recklessly leapt forward, the beads and armor deflecting the arrows. Leon jumped from the awning and burst into flame. His tattoos glowing, he leapt on the hotheaded fool and drained him dry as the flames extinguished themselves. With a war cry, he and his Company ran forward, joining Morihaus and Pelinal, followed by Alessia's main body.

Just when victory seemed certain, Ayleid horns blew from lower down the mountain. Another legion had come to reinforce the first. Refusing to give in to despair, the rebels kept fighting. As soon as the legion reached them, anopther horn blew, this time from the far side of the bridge. Leon whipped around and saw the horde.

At their head a giant of a man covered in blue tattoos.

"Rip 'em limb from limb! Kick some ass!" He shouted, grabbing a massive ax and charging at the head of a thousand warriors. As soon as he passed through the gate, he opened his mouth and wailed. The wall of solid sound impacted the fresh legion, exploding the heads of the wizards. His army collided with the now magickless army, and his ax began to swing almost of its own accord. Heads rolled, shields shattered, and Leon welled up with savage glee as he joined the Nord reinforcements and thanked Shor that prophecy had no sense of scale. The Nords had mobilized, and with their help the day was won.

After the battle, Leon took the armor from the bodyguard he killed, and Alessia approached the leader with the killing scream.

"We received your message." The leader said, leaning on his ax. He had long blond hair, a massive beard and wore a suit of studded leather armor. "Consider the heads of the slain elves this day my answer."

"We are honored to have you fight by our side." Alessia said, when the leader's eye caught Pelinal.

"Sir." He said, "I am the warlord Barulf. Are you not the return of-"

Pelinal cut him off with an enraged gesture and a violent spit. "Do not! Say nothing further, I am merely a man!"

Barulf nodded. "As you say. That is some starange armor."

"Yes. It is, it is not from a where or when that you will ever know. Beyond that I will say nothing."

Barulf nodded again, and the army went off to rest. It would soon be time to march again, with their new allies.


	50. FEE: Let's Do It!

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Let's Do It! Gear Up For Our Final Battle!

Over the months, Alessias army marched through the jungles by day, with their secret vanguard of the Shor Company marching ahead in the night. Every three days, Leon would return to the main camp to reorganize battle plans with Alessia and her new generals.

Barulf was given an honored place, and fought at the front lines whenever a new city was taken. Jormundr the Stoneman, renowned for his earth-magicks, soon joined. His boulders destroyed the gates of Kemen. Mir, a Nede like Leon, was freed there and soon rose through the ranks. Alanduil, a turncoat Ayleid, had opened his gates to the humans at Sedor, and always were Pelinal and Morihaus by her side. Together, they named themselves the Council of Skiffs. Leon didn't know or care what that meant, but he, too, had an honored place there. The rebellion continued on, until at last the humans had freed all men north of White-Gold, and smaller revolts began in the south as news spread.

At last, the time came. Pelinal, when Leon had returned, called the Skiffs together.

"It is time, I feel it." He said. "The Slavedrivers are at their weakest. His armies are on wild goose chases in the south after these smaller rebellions in an attempt to ignore the real threat in his cowardice, and Umaril the Unfeathered has left White-Gold with only a small garisson."

Leon felt a jolt like electricity rip through his veins. Toppling Umaril would free all the humans, everywhere. Not just one city of slaves released, but the entire slavemaster society ripped down. However, he had seen what Umaril was capable of. he knew that open conflict would be suicide, at least at the moment.

"I don't..." he said, "Umaril alone is powerful. I've seen him in my visions. If we face him directly, make no mistake, we will die." Leon said.

Barulf and Jormundr both nodded in assent. "We must work around his great city, ensure we have no risk of an ambush from returning legions, then form a better plan."

Mir simply shook his head. "It will fail."

Alanduil raised his hand. "I, too, have seen Umaril Half-Elf use his eldritch powers, they are formidable, but finite. with a larger army, we may have a better chance."

Alessia spoke last. "I agree with the Council, Pelinal. we must wait, and be cautious. Umaril is far more deadly than we are prepared for."

Pelinal slammed his fist down on the map table in rage. "What is this cowardice? We, who together slaughtered all the Northern Cheiftains? Humans, who rose from dirt to become heroes?"

He raked his hand sideways, scattering the maps. "All of it, does that meen nothing?" He stormed out, fuming, shouting a defiant oath: "If none of you will come with me, I will face the Slavemaster King alone!"

Hours later, Leon stood before his own company once again, Pelinals words eating at his heart. At last he made his choice.

"Move out, follow me. Fast and quiet, like always." Leon ordered them.

As they marched, the Thu'um of Barulf reached Leon's ears, and a magic window opened in front of him.

"Commander Leon! What in Oblivion are you doing!?" Barulf shouted, the Council visible behind him.

"Sorry, everyone, but Pelinal was right. I can't let him face certain death alone. If we can't help him win, then we'll die trying!" Leon said, and blew out the magic window with his own.

So, following the trail of destruction, they went by night after the hero. At last, they caught up with him.

They saw him from a distance, unleashing his killing light. In front of that, tendrils of purest black swirled whiplike in the air. As they approached, they saw he was facing off against what seemed to be a massive golem.

As they approached, he withdrew his killing lightand the Golem stood still as a statue. He took a step to the left, and it mirrored it. Leon raised his hand, and as he drew close the blackness swirled to life in front of him. He withdrew his hand, sensing the terrifying power of Oblivion.

He took a closer look at the Golem. It was,at first glance, simply a stone man. A closer look revealed minioscule, interlaced lines of red energy like veins all over it. Clearly it was much like the armor he had taken from the bodyguard those months before, a mundane object imbued with the essence of a still-living Daedric entity.

"I've been trying to pass it for an entire day." Pelinal said. "There are more all around the city in a circle." Their eyes all travelled to the massive spike jutting from the ground, so close yet so very far away. "Dozens of daedra must have gone into making this abomination. It's power is beyond even mine."

"Well, here you have dozens of humans, now." Leon said. Pelinal looked at him.

"It seems you are right." Pelinal said. "Now then," He grunted, his left hand bathed in light as the company's tattoos began to glow, "Let's show this bastard the power of humans!" He pulled his hand back and thrust it forward, his light slamming into the darkness as the company pressed their power into him. He shouted as the power began to wash over him, and he began to push in towards the golem. With a final shout, he ppressed forward and then was thrown back with a flash.

Leon helped the fumiong Pelinal back to his feet. Allan walked up.

"I think I may have a plan." He said. "If you let me have that white bead, I can possibly break through the barrier long enough for Pelinal to destroy the golem."

Resigned, and knowing what would happen, Leon gave the bead to Allan. Allan walked forwards, With the white bead in hand, he touched it to the barrier. It began to spasm and warp around him as he pushed his way in, a maniacal grin across his blue, scaly face.

"Do you seriouslty think this is going to be wiped out by the likes of you!?" He shouted, "This is for the Commander!" He shouted as the bead exploded, opening the barrier wide and taking him with it.

Pelinal raised his hand, and it glowed once again. Leon's tattoos glowed white, as did those of the whole company.

"Never forget this sacrifice! Press forward with Allan in your hearts!" Leon roared. "Now let's do it!"

The white glow of the tattoos began to drift off of them towards Pelinal, and swirl in a massive spiral around his body towards his hand.

It formed a solid shape of a masive white drill, dwarfing the distant tower. He swing it around, thrust forward, and ground the golem to dust.

They all looked at the crater where the abomination used to be. Hands balled into fists, Leon called out to the company.

"All right, my fellow free men! Check your weapons! Let's do it! Gear up for our final battle!"


	51. FEE: Turncoats

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Turncoats

The company walked somberly onwards towards the great spire. As they approached, they passed the remains of farmhouses. Pelinal examined them, disturbed.

"Someone has attacked here already." He said. "But how? That barrier was all but impenetrable. How could someone have beat us here?" They walked past the piles of the dead. It was Leon who noticed the next strange scene.

"These are all male, men and boys." He said. "There are no women or girls here."

"Then we know it wasn't one of our armies." Pelinal replied. "Alessia has strict rules prohibiting what is likely in store for them."

They walked on, past the piles, each newer than the last. when they came upon a ruined village, the dawn was fast approaching. They knew they had to stop somewhere or Leon would die, so they approached the smoking carcasses of homes and the stink of fresh slaughter.

The bodies were not all mer. Leon's eyes widened in horror as he saw the dead Khajiit in a massive heap. However, before panic set in, he heard movement. Lying in a pile of soldiers was Rizzar'al, barely moving, breathing in short, painful gasps. Three seperate spears had him pinned to the ground.

"You..." He snarled. "Have you come to finally finish our fight?" he managed to get out, before coughing blood.

Pelinal drew his sword. "Let me put him out of his misery." He said, raising the deadly weapon. Rizzar'al looked up defiantly as the blade swung down.

Leon was between them in a flash, his blade intercepting Pelinal's.

"What are you doing?" Pelinal asked. "He's one of them!" His eyes began to glow bright red, and Leon felt the ground around him begin to tremble.

"Not by choice!" Leon said, pushing back, taking Pelinal by surprise. "he's under my protection."

"Like hell!" Pelinal said, lunging for the prone warrior again. Once again, Leon intercepted, then countered with an attack of his own. Pelinal's mace flew from nowhere and clipped his chin. Leon flipped back in the air, landing in a bestial crouching position. "He can help us!"

Again Pelinal charged, and where his feet dread was nothing. Leon gasped as Pelinal's sword cut past his face and unmade the very air it passed through.

"He can tell us who did this!" leon said, going on a last-didtch offensive. He knew from his dreams if Pelinal entered his Madness in full then all of them would cease to be, body and soul. He feinted, the dondged the counter, punching Pelinal full in the face.

The jolt knocked Pelinal back into his senses.

"I'm still dying here!" Rizzar'al choked out.

They had their medic cast healing spells after Leon removed the spears. As soon as he could stand and breathe comfortably, he began to snarl again.

"They came at me all at once like cowards." He spat. "It was the southern army, taking the roundabout route. They were led by Hektor."

Leon's blood ran cold and his heart turned to ice.

"He and most of his guard left with the women. They had others, some still young girls. I think he beleives that Umaril will die, but that the human armies will scatter after, leaving him alone."

Leon's mind turned to Caelia. Would she even still be alive? As Rizzar'al went into detail about the rumored abominations that happened in what was known as Hektor's "pleasure basement" he thought it increasingly less likely.

"Either way, I need to go and save them." Rizzar'al said. "This was my township, and he attacked it. It is my duty to take his head."

Leon looked at Pelinal. "I'll go with him."

"What?" They said, simultaneously.

"When we reach the city walls, Rizzar'al and I will break off and find Hektor's mansion. The company will distract the city garisson, and you can go straight up to Umaril. If you have to think of it this way, I can keep tabs on him."

Leon ducked into a house as the dawn finally broke. "Tomorrow at sunset, we attack."


	52. FEE: The Final Battle

_**Author's Note: **__Wow-ee. This chapter was pretty intense to write. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. And if anyone's wondering, yes that is a reference way down there. You'll see it. I usually don't do references but this just fit too well. _

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: The Final Battle

They set off again that sunset. When the moons rose high, they at last reached the walls.

"This is where we split off." Leon said. Pelinal gave him a nod as he and Rizzar'al began to stalk along the walls. The company began to smash at the main gate, Pelinal at their side. Together, they splintered it easily. Shouting like demons, they ran in. Pelinal strode forward, unflinching, towards white-Gold Tower.

From the top, Umaril looked down with a smug smirk.

"Humans..." He muttered, almost chuckled. "They will break." He waved his hand and walked back down to the throne room.

Leon and Rizzar'al reached the point in the wall where, by Rizzar'al's reckoning, Hektor's home was nearest. Unveiling his vicious claws, the Khajiit warrior flung himself up the sheer wall. Not to be outdone, Leon used his vampiric nails to do the same. Atop the wall were two guards, who were dispatched effortlessly. They found the stairs and climbed down.

"Now, if I recall, his mansion is in this area, right after this next turn. Be on your guard, there are soldiers everywhere, and he likely has a personal garrison." Rizzar'al said.

"Who is he, anyway?" Leon asked. "Where did he get so much pull?"

They looked past the corner, saw two soldiers. Like the ones on the wall, they fell quickly.

"He is one of Umaril's personal vassals. He was born to it." Rizzar'al said. "This is it."

The mansion was much larger than the surrounding ones, and grandly decorated with statues and fountains.

"Well then." Leon said, "Let's do it!"

The company had lit fires all along the merchant district. The soldiers had been distracted, led to the company as they had planned. David, sword in hand, had taken up the mantle of leader for the duration of the assault.

"Keep pushing!" He roared. "Let's kick them in the balls for every slight against us!"

The company echoed the roar as the soldiers reached them at last. David dodged aside a blade and thrust, drawing first blood. Ripping the sword from the body, he began to cut his own swath through the enemy. His tattoos began to smoke until they ignited, and a wall of magic leapt from him. A sadistic grin spread across his face as the blood ran down his body.

Pelinal walked on. Now and again, Ayleids would throw themselves at him, and without a thought he cut them down, not missing a single step. he reached the door to the tower, and a burst from his killing light destroyed the great golden doors. He walked in and began his ascent.

Leon and Rizzar'al used a public table as a battering ram, smashing down the doors of the grand manor. They walked in, weapons at the ready. Hektor's personal guard stood, a line of eight warriors in armor unlike anything Leon had ever seen.

They stepped forward in unison, as though they were of one mind, and drew their own blades, again in unison. The wickedly curved tools of destruction stank of fearsome enchantment.

Leon jumped at one flank as Rizzar'al jumped at the other. With the claws of his left hand, Rizzar'al gutted the first, spilling his entrails on the floor. Leon swung his sword down, cutting another in two, before whirling around and decapitating another. Rizzar'al thrust through the heart of yet one more, and stared down the half left alive.

Sarah reached David in the center of the battle. Both covered in blood, surrounded by warriors, they grabbed hands. Each channeled their magic with their love of the other, and glared at their opponents. With a yell, a shockwave erupted, killing what survived of the first battalion of soldiers and destroying half the storefronts.

"Go around!" David commanded. "On to the next district!"

Pelinal reached the top of the tower, and found himself at last in the throne room of Umaril.

"All right, you son of a whore!" He shouted. "Come and face me at last, like a man!"

Umaril, his gaze only mildly interested, looked at the human. His feathered wings seemed a perfect piece of the art on the wall behind him, a completion of the ultimate mozaic, a thing of pure and untarnished beauty.

"Kill him." he said, languidly, and the surviving Ayleid Chieftains all leapt from hiding and fell upon Pelinal at once as Umaril watched, bemused.

Leon and Rizzar'al ducked beneath attacks, their moves syncronizing to do the most damage they could. In mere moments, the guards lay dead.

"Any of the women alive would be downstairs." Rizzar'al said. "I've always wanted to take this bastard down. If he's done anything to my Shiara..." Rizzar'al's face became so twisted with hate Leon barely recognized it. They headed down the stairs as quickly as possible. The stench was overpowering. Fear and death reeked from the very walls and wails of torment came from the doors. Each one was opened, and the prisoners were released one by one. None of them were Caelia. In the final door were packed the residents of Rizzar'al's village, scared but otherwise unharmed. One woman, an almost-human but with fangs and a tail, jumped at Rizzar'al and hugged him.

"Shiara..." He said, hugging back. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"We're not done yet." Leon said. "You get them out of here. I'll go deal with Hektor."

"But I-" Rizzar'al began.

"Your duty is to get all of them to safety." Leon said. "I'll hit him twice as hard for you!"

Rizzar'al dropped into a smirk. "All right, human. Send him my regards!"

Leon walked them up, and Rizzar'al escorted them the rest of the way. There was a flight of stairs going to the upper floors. Leon could feel the presence of two living things.

"All right you bastard," Leon snarled, "now you'll get what's coming to you!"

Pelinal raised his shield in time to deflect the first blow. He swung his sword and the head of a chief fell. He brought it around and parried, then cut the hands off a warrior before kicking him in the face. A sword glanced off his armor, he turned and cleaved a head in two with a grunt. There was no pleasure in this fight. He wanted to fell Umaril, and no one else. That was when the arrow pierced his armor first. He grunted, barely reacting. he didn't know how to react, as he had never bled before. The white of his armor was tarnished with red. Then another arrow hit him in the shoulder. This time he made a hissing noise before felling another chief as Umaril sneered. when the third arrow pierced his chest he let out an inhuman cry that echoed all across the city.

The company was stopped in its tracks as the wail reached their ears. That moment as still targets cost five lives in the first second.

"Duck! Find cover!" David shouted, his momentum broken. The arrows continued to rain until they were pinned down.

Leon walked up the stairs as he heard the scream. He knew in his heart what had happened, but he also knew he had to continue. He stepped into a massive antechamber and saw at last his enemy.

"Well, well." Hektor said, smugly stroking his beard. "I see you are still alive."

"So you remember me." Leon said, throwing away his gauntlet. "You stole my love and marked me forever. Now all my rage is getting shoved right up your ass!"

Then Hektor made a gargling noise. A choking, hideous cough that could only barely be called a chuckle before he burst out laughing, a sound almost as terrifying as Pelinal's scream.

"Fool human!" He said. "Your woman, the women of the village, what do they mean to me? Nothing. What your hatred allows me to become? That is everything."

"What are you...?" He followed Hektor's gaze towards the wall behind him, and his moth hung open in absolute horror.

"Caelia?" He said. He smelled the life in her, a bare spark. She was naked, hung by spikes through her arms, shoulders and torso. He smelled the magicks keeping her alive in torment, keeping her blood in. "You..." Leon had no words vile enough for the black hate that spilled from his tattoos and smoked across the floor.

"Yes, that's right." Hektor said. "Now, direct your hatred at me!"

Leon obliged, firing his spell with every fiber of his being as a ball of solid hatred. It impacted Hektor, and the resulting explosion tore the wall from the manor.

Pelinal, alone on the floor, was on one knee as the pain ripped through him. His hand reached up and tore off the arrow, then the cuirass, then out of his chest he pulled the Red Diamond.

Umaril laughed then. "You see now?"

"You may have created me..." Pelinal said, tearing the head from the Diamond and placing it back in his chest, "... but I'm me. Nothing you do will ever change that!"

Umaril laughed mockingly. "You sorry puppet, you discarded doll!" He drew his massive blade from it's place next to his throne. "Self-awareness is above you and the human filth!"

Pelinal threw his mace. On the pure, serene, beautiful face was a look of sublime horror before it impacted. The blow distorted his features, breaking his nose and jaw in several directions at once. Blood dripped on the golden armor and Umaril unfurled his wings, his face permanently a mask of utmost horror.

"Die!" He wailed, thrusting the blade through Pelinal. Pelinal dragged himself in agony up the blade, and with a might blow cut off Umaril's right wing. They both screamed in unimaginable pain. Umaril crumpled to the ground, and Pelinal hacked off the other wing in two blows. The surviving chieftains watched in horror as their rebellious toy and their king fought in a bitter struggle to the death.

Sarah and David were the last alive. Surrounded, they looked eachother in the eye.

"To Sovngarde, brother."

"Yes sister." They said, embracing. Their tattoos glowed white and they exploded, taking the entire district with them.

Leon walked over to the hole, and black tentacles whipped forward, binding him. He heard that horrifying noise as Hektor rose, a maniacal glare across his face, the hatred of the spell fused to his body.

"Now you will see the awesome and terrible power of a truly cold hatred." Hektor said, before throwing Leon across the room against the wall. Leon got up and ran at him with a shout, but a tentacle flew across him, slamming him hard in the face and lifting him a dozen feet in the air. Hektor impact-juggled Leon for some time, laughing all the while. At last, he hit Leon sending him straight down. He burst through the floor, then through into the basement. Hektor reached down, grabbed him, then threw him up through the roof.

He rose there too. Leon charged at him again, and was again hit hard. He felt his nose break and heal again. The smoke and clouds coated the sky in a reddish glow, making Hektor look even more monstrous.

Pelinal ripped himself off the sword, his wounds glowing red. "I am not a puppet!" He roared, then dove at Umaril with such violence it repulsed even the cheiftains. His mace found its way back to his hand, and it came down on Umaril's right wing-stump. The king shreiked in pain, before cutting off Pelinal's left hand. Pelinal screamed as well, and in turn he stabbed through Umaril's shoulder. Off came his right leg, just before he cut off Umaril's head.

The head landed with a thump on the stone floor. The High King was dead, but Pelinal realized at last that he had failed before the chieftains tore him limb from limb.

Leon charged, again and again. Hektor continued laughing in the red glow of the fire. "Don't you see? It's hopeless!" He said, hitting Leon again. Leon stood up shakily, clutching his side. His ribs had broken. They were healing, but he was regenerating slower and slower. He knew he only had a limited amount of time before his immortal body would take more than it could handle.

"It's never hopeless." Leon said, managing at last to cut off a tentacle. Hektor grunted, then chuckled again.

"It was your own hatred of me that gave me this power!" Hektor said. "It is because of you I now have the power to usurp Umaril!" He used another tentacle to hit Leon again. Leon once again shakily rose. One of his eyes was swollen shut. Leon panted heavily.

"I see you are too stubborn to let fate go by easily." Hektor said. "If you weren't a disgusting, pathetic human, I might even pity your resolve."

"Shut UP!" Leon broke, his voice forming a wall of sound. It hit Hektor like a punch, and the momentary lapse was enough. Leon cut one of the tentacles supporting him, and he fell face-first onto the roof. He stood on his feet, but the tentacles still writhed behind him. One lunged out, and Leon cut it off before jumping forwards. He managed to cut across Hektor's face, opening his nose. Hektor punched him in the chest, knocking him back. He slowly rose again on the tentacle-legs.

Snarling, Leon took two steps forward. The tentacles whipped again, and he sidestepped.

"I've had enough." He said, a white tentacle whipping from his own hand to deflect Hektor's. "The war, the violence. It's not helping."

"What? How?" Hektor asked.

Leon's left hand began to glow, and he put his hand forward, cutting through another tentacle.

"Slavery, it's just... wrong. On so many levels. This world was made so we could be free!" He shouted, pointing towards the heavens. "My god, the one true god, is the god of freedom!"

His hand glowed brighter, and a massive drill exploded forth.

"My god is Shezzar who goes missing! Shezzar who has been found!"

He launched the drill forwards, and destroyed all the tentacles at last.

"My god is Shor, the god who lives on as a part of me!"

He raised the drill again.

"Now. I'm done!"

He pointed the drill forwards, and aimed it right at Hektor's head.

"Giga! DRILL!!_** BREAK!!!" **_He shouted as he launched himelf bodily through his enemy at last. Hektor screamed as he died, and the drill disappeared.

He jumped down into the room where Caelia hung. Weakly, she looked up at him.

"Leon..." She said.

"Caelia!"

"I think I'm dying. Hektor's enchantment kept me alive. It is finally my time." She said.

"No, not yet!" Leon said. "I have a way to save you."

Her eyes lit. Leon, as gently as he could, took her off the spikes. He bit her in the neck, and focused his power on enveloping her. Making his own vampire blood a part of her being. Her wounds began to close. She would live, but become like him in three days. He helped her up.

"Now, we need to go and see if we can help Pelinal."

They walked out the door, after Leon grabbed Caelia some clothes, each supporting the other. Leon looked up and saw soldiers of the Ayleidoon staring down at them. He reached for his sword just before they all began to die.

Morihaus charged through the front line, bellowing. Alessia swing her blade left and right.

"Alessia! Morihaus!" Leon managed to bark out, relieved. he had been too weak to fight any more.

"We couldn't let you guys grab all the glory!" Another voice said.

"Rizzar'al?" Leon asked.

He stepped forward. "I ran into these guys on the way back. They spared a few men to escort my people home. Now, let's finish this!"

"Been waiting to hear that!" Leon said, as all eyes turned to White-Gold. "Now let's do it!"


	53. FEE: Bittersweet Victory

I, Eternity

First Era Echo: Bittersweet Victory

There was almost no resistance left after Alessia and her armies arrived. However, Leon felt his heart plummet as they saw no sign of the company, only the remains of battle. They made their way to the tower itself, the gigantic spike jutting from the ground. The surrounding gardens would seem paceful one day, Leon didn't know how he knew it but he did. They passed through the destroyed tower doors, and went up the massive spiral staircase that circled the tower in its entirety. When they reached the throne room, even so jaded to bloodshed as they had become they were astonished.

The great chamber seemed painted red. All across the floor lay dismembered bodies. A horrific gargling noise came from a pedestal, where is teemed Pelinal's helmet had been taken as a trophy. However, when Leon realized the sounds were coming from the helmet, he limped forward, aware of every bruise that had yet to heal from the beating, as Alessia and Morihaus, now in his human form, walked alongside him. Alessia picked up the helmet, and on the pedestal stared Pelinal's still-living head.

"I failed." He said, blood tears streaming down his face. Leon began to realize just how tired and hungry he was after his ordeal, and the streams from Pelinal's eyes looked so appetizing. he shook the thought away. "I killed Umaril's body, but he will return. His servants cut me into eight pieces, as they are obsessed with the number. Their sorceries keep me alive in agony. Please, I leave you this last request: Someday, my armor will be found. That one, the one who finds it, he must succeed where I have failed, or all we have worked for will be for nothing."

Alessia, Morihaus and Leon did not understand, but they promised anyway, knowing that Pelinal was sometimes wiser than he seemed.

"Now, please, kill me. My body will never again fight. You have my helmet, and next to Umaril's physical shell you will find my body. Alessia, take the gem within. It will be a sign of your covenant with the gods. As long as you or one worthy possess it, and as long as you are faithful to the freedom of mankind, no sorceries like those of the Ayleids will ever be possible."

Alessia reached through the gore and found the gem. It flashed a soft red glow at her touch.

"Now!" Pelinal said. "Kill me!"

Leon drew his sword. "Pelinal, we humans are forever in your debt. I hereby accept..." he raised his blade "your last wish!" And he clove the head in two. Leon saw, as the blade fell, the look of relief on Pelinal's face. The army then began to scour the palace, and Leon took the blood of an Ayleid before going to the roof of the tower, bringing Caelia with him.

They stood there for a moment, leaning on each other for support, as the sun broke over the horizon.

"That's it then." Leon said, aware of the itching the sun caused but not minding it. "The first dawn where we're together and free at last."

"Yes." Caelia said. "I never would have hoped..."

"I promised." Leon said, showing her his wrist, the marks Hektor had left when he refused to let Caelia go those years before. "I promised I'd get you back, and no force in this world or in the endless heavens would ever stop me!"

Caelia smiled. It was a small thing, fleeting and beautiful. Leon was overjoyed to see it.

"Free at last." She said. "It will take some getting used to." She said.

They went back down into the tower together, and found Alessia.

"There are messages from all over Cyrod, Ayleids surrendering, freeing their slaves. We really have won!" She said. Morihaus threw his arm around her, smiling.

That same day, the Red Diamond was put on a necklace and made into the Royal Amulet. Alessia walked the streets of the City, greeted by the cheers of the freed humans and the bows of the surrendering Ayleid lords. Leon, ignoring the itching of his skin, walked behind her with the other soldiers. Still he saw no sign of his company. He knew in his heart they were dead. He swore that he would always remember them, that he would never forget their sacrifice.

He knew that it was not completely over. Some warlords would try to keep the Ayleid kingdom alive, and that they would have to find the pieces of Pelinal's body, but for this day, all the lingering doubts and the grieving would be put aside to celebrate the hard-earned freedom of the human race.

----------

Leon felt the tug in his mind at last. He knew that the change from past to present would actually take an instant. However, in this land of memory and thought, he had time. He had conciously recalled all of the Alessian Rebellion as he was unconsious, but he knew he had no time to do all the consious recall now. all of his memories had been unlocked, so he sifted through, looking for a few specific ones. The one that seemed the most important was one from some time after the rebellion, after Caelia had left for parts unknown. A few mad priests were trying to summon Auriel to the mortal world and change him into a god for mankind alone. He dove into it.

------------

The priests danced, and the god appeared atop the tower. Leon saw the sillhouette of the great dragon against the moons, and he ran up the sheer wall of the tower against the sheet of rain. He reached the top in a flash and drew his bronze sword, not the katana he now used. The god snarled at the interference, and with a swipe of his par he slaughtered the priests. They turned to dust as time sped up and enveloped them. Such spells had no effect on the immortal Leon, who charged headlong at Auriel. The god spewed fire, and leon jumped over it.

_**You will not interfere! I will restore my body!**_ The god roared, and welled up magic in preparation. It's intention was to return the part of its body that had become time to its core self. The cost for such an endeavor would bwe the unmaking of the world itself. The memory was spotty, vague, Leon felt like he was looking at it through a dirty lens. He knew these things somehow. The fight dragged on. The god said words. Leon remembered what the words meant, but not what they were. At last, the memory snapped into focus and clarity. It lasted only a moment as Auriel spewed fire once again, Leon dodged asiode, climbed the massive forelimb and stabbed the god in the head.

That was when the Dragon broke.

----------

Leon left that memory. He knew it was time for him to return to the waking world. Over time, in his dreams, he would recall the rest of his memories. It would take some time, but he knew the full extent of his mind and power were at last restored to him. And so the journey through the last of his memories ended as the first began: by himhitting his head on a rock.


	54. Disorientation

I, Eternity

Disorientation

Leon's eyes opened slowly. His head throbbed. He knew that he had gone berserk the previous night, and that a full day had passed. He knew that, again, he had fallen and hit his head on a stone. He pushed himself up.

"Can't a guy get a bit of sleep around here?" He mumbled. The room was dark, but for him that didn't matter. The room was actually a dungeon. He heard the shuffling of a living thing behind the bars.

"Hey, who's there?" The living thing said. Leon walked over, and saw that in a cell was a Nord, thin and tired-looking.

"Just Leon." Leon said. "Who are you, why are you here, and while we're on that where the hell is here?"

The man gave him a confused look. "I'm Eystein, I've been here for a long time, I was captured years ago, and we're on Yokuda, under that big stone tower."

"Okay." Leon said. "There are two other Nords on this island, Brennus and Engar. Do you know them?"

"What, because I'm a Nord I know all other Nords?" Eystein asked.

"No, because you're a Nord who'se been here a while, maybe you know the other two Nords who have."

"Well, honestly you're right." Eystein said. "They're my brothers. We're exiled Skyrim royalty- well, former royalty. Our family was overthrown and exiled. I turned to piracy, the othes dissapeared."

"Well, I'm gonna let you go now. I know I have something to do here, and if you help me, I'll help you." Leon said, taking the old, rusted lock gently in his hands. with a sudden movement, he balled his hand into a fist and ground it to powder. He swung open the cell door.

"After you, highness." He said with an exaggerated gesture. Eystein walked out and picked a bar up off the ground.

"The man who captured me was named Rostrin." He said. "He bears a grudge against my family, and it has driven him absolutely mad. It's likely he's using your friends as bait to lure Brennus and Engar to him. They always did put honor before reason. I doubt he counted on us, though."

Eystein felt his way to the stairs and Leon followed. In the upper roomes, there was the light from the moons and stars to see. The walls were rough-hewn. There were more stairs leading up. The construction seemed fairly simmilar to an inverted White-Gold Tower. They continued to climb, their footsteps echoing strangely from the uneven walls. As they climbed, Leon began to hear voices. He knew Eystein wouldn't hear them yet, but they sounded angry.

"Let's hurry." Leon said. "It sounds like we're late to the party."

They quickened their pace up the stairs. The hungry, malnourished Eystein began to pant and sweat. He fell behind as Leon made his way up. When he got to the door to the topmost chamber, he found it already burst open and a dark fog spilling out, obscuring all vision. he wrapped his eyes in a spell to detect living things, but as soon as he entered the mist it disippated. Concerned, Leon began to feel his way around the room. He heard the sounds of battle, but couldn't make out what was happening. The black fog was clearly Largot's doing.

The fog began to clear, wrapping itself around a crystal in the center of the room. Leon finally took in the whole scene.

Brennus already lay dead. Laria and Dan were shaken, a dagger laced with magic laying by them. Largot, Saylo, and Engar were pressing the attack on Rostrin, who had a panicked look on his face. Leon could tell that the battle was already won. Eystein walked in, took one look at the body and knelt silently by it as the fight ended.

Leon walked out, letting the aftermath go as it would. As he left, he saw a flash of images. He knew what Largot's fate was, and he knew he had the power to change it. He smiled and resolved to do so. He stepped outside into the dry night air, and took it in.

The ground suddenly began to pitch and shake, and large chunks began falling from the tower. He dodged left and right as they fell, and the others ran out from the tower.

"If I had to venture a guess," Leon said, "it would be that you decided to destroy the stone of this tower?"

They nodded. Leon looked up as the last of the tower crumbled to dust.

"You guys did a great job." Leon said. People began to run up from the village, and mingle with the ones who had fought. Leon began to turn away, when from the corner of his eye he saw a movement. He turned around just in time to see Eyetein holding a knife that was buried in the back of the Dunmer mage, Fathis. Eystein ran off towards the village with Largot in hot pursuit as Leon ran over to the dead mer, trusting Largot to deal with the murderer.


	55. NecroLicious

I, Eternity

Necro-Licious

Largot chased Eystein and Leon examined the dead bodies. There were Brennus, Fathis, and somehow Rostrin had also managed to have his body land near them. Ignoring him for the moment, Leon reached into his magic bag and oulled out a large book. It's pages were browned and frayed, and it smelled moldy. Flipping through it, Leon closed his body's eyes and opened his second sight. Reaching into the world of possibility, he saw that the souls were still nearby.

He opened his body's eyes quickly.

"Everyone." He said, "we might be in luck."

Dan, distraught, looked up from his dead friend's body, as Engar looked up from his brother's. "What do you mean?"

"Their souls are still here in this world. If we act quickly, I may be able to heal them. The easiest way to say it is that they aren't all the way dead yet."

Quickly, Leon prepared his spells and incantations. As he reached into his second sight again, he also began to use a sort of second voice. The souls of those who had fallen began to walk towards him. Rostrin, instead of going towards his own body, approached him.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" He asked.

"Yes, you are." Leon said.

"Well, I have a request for you."

"Well, what is it? Bear in mind this is your fault and I know it, so don't be going too crazy with your favors."

"I also know it's my fault. You can't see them, but those farther gone than me, they've shown me what I've done. How horrible..." Rostrin's ghost hesitated, making a ghostly imitation of a sob.

"Man up." Leon said. "What do you want?"

"Please, I must atone." Rostrin said. "Guide me back to my body, and let me live on to repent."

"I don't think I'm gonna do that." Leon said.

"Please!" Rostrin begged. "I am surrounded by you and your allies. If I do anything you will kill me again, and even if I decided to betray and kill one of you, I would soon be killed and without a chance of ressuraction!"

Leon thought about it. "All right, but if you do anything funny, I'll personally gut you like a fish and make a necklace from your eyeballs."

He guided the spirits back to their bodies, and after they settled in he returned to his body-sight. The bodies began to stir, healed. He knew that they would be wobbly and dizzy for some hours, but that they would live.

Atop the back of the massive black Dragon, Largot returned. He jumped off, and his eye flared as he saw Rostrin. He drew his sword and leon stopped him.

"Hold on, everyone, let me explain." Leon said.

"No, let me." Rostrin said. "I told Leon that I had seen the horror I have caused firsthand. I asked to be given this chance to atone. Most specifically, I ask you, Engar and Brennus, for forgiveness. I ask that this senseless feud ends today."

He knelt in front of the brothers. They took one look at eachother then each offered him a hand.

"You seem repentant enough." Brennus said.

"I'm not exactly the grudge-holding type." Engar said. They pulled him up. Leon smiled and began to walk off.

As he reached the docks, he heard footsteps behind him. He saw, as he expected, Largot and the others. Largot looked prepared to shove off.

"You're leaving?" he asked Largot. He nodded, and Leon smiled.

"Great, I'm coming too."

"What?" Largot asked.

"Why are you going?" Dan asked.

"Won't you stay and help us build up the village?" Laria asked.

"I'm just Leon the wanderer." Leon said. "You guys are all better suited to it. Besides, just trust me on this, Largot is gonna need my help more than you guys."

Largot and his crew began loading up the ship.

"Don't worry. I'll see you all again. That's a promise." Leon smiled before jumping onto the ship. he waved once then ducked below as the sun began to rise.

"I hate boats." He muttered to himself. "You're gonna owe me big for this, Largot."


	56. Turn Left, Dumbass!

I, Eternity

Turn Left, Dumbass!

Leon lurched with the ship as it cut through the waters. He waited as his stomach churned in agony for the night. As it fell, he went to the deck as fast as his wobbly legs would carry him. He thought to himself how funny it would sound if he were still on land, that even the walking dead could feel queasy on a ship. It didn't reassure him.

On all sides a vast expanse of black and blue. Above were the infinite lights in the sky surrounding the moons. A sea unto itself. He stared long and hard at the lesser moon, using it's steadfastness to still his mind and body. He took a few deep, shaky breaths and then a long steady one. He lowered his eyes to the helm, where Largot himself was standing.

"No offense, but I really am not a seagoing type." Leon said.

"None taken. She's a good ship though, the best." Largot replied.

Leon looked with his second sight. He saw ahead, that Largot's fate was to die at sea on this very trip. Ahead was a gale. It was still so far as to be invisible, particularly in the dark. If Leon looked hard with his supernaturally strong eyes he could see that there seemed to be a starless spot on the distant horizon.

"Okay Largot, here's the deal." Leon said. Largot looked at him, confused.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Leon sifted through his mind's confused images. Flashes he kept seeing in the back of his head, or out of the corner of his mind's eye.

"Up ahead is a gale, it's ungodly strong and could easily tear even this ship to splinters. It is your fate to die in it, and then the woman you love will continue to languish in her unconsious state."

"What? I don't..."

"You don't need to understand!" Leon said. "Just turn left, dumbass!"

Largot shook himself off and turned the helm hard. The ship pitched, and leon tumbled sideways, hitting his back hard against the rails. He began to hear a wailing noise. His mind's eye saw what his body could not. He saw the ghost of the ship and all aboard it running ahead, then vanishing.

They continued north, then turned back east again. The moons hit their apex as the thunder started off beside them. It looked like the bottom of the sky had eaten the stars, and replaced them with lightning. It was at a distance, but the crew was all jittery. None of them had seen a storm so strong, even from a distance. Leon folded his arms and smiled.

_Up yours, you betentacled ass. I win again!_ He thought. Again, his mind's eye saw a flash. Then his body did.

Two white shapes flew out of the storm right towards the ship.

"Oh, fuckberries." Leon mumbled, drawing his sword. The crew all ran for weapons as well. The beings looked like glowing snakes with feathered wings. They landed, coiled, on the deck. Leon knew them as the Jills, those who maintained the timeline he had just helped break. If they killed Largot and destroyed the ship, it would be restored.

Leon jumped at one, snarling, and cut at it's wing. Nak'Ditargan burst from Largot's body with a might bellow and followed the other into the air. Largot took his great sword and cut across at the still-landed one, it doedged and Marduk the argonian crewman jumped on it, raking his lethal claws down the monster's eyes. It wailed in agaony before Largot and leon cut in unison, dividfing it into thirds. It dissolved into dust and blew into the winds.

In the air, the great black Dragon chased the surviving Jill. It flapped its wings, fleeing. Nak flung great balls of black energy from his mouth, and they left a smoky trail as they sailed through the air. He manouvered himself over the monster, then kept it penned where he wanted it. he flew it over the ship, then dove. he dug his claws into it's back, and landed hard. The monster cried out in pain before he sank his massive fangs into its neck. It dissolved as well.

"I did not see that coming." Leon said. "But that should be all of them. Now that that's done, I've basically cancelled out your fate."

"What does that mean?" Largot asked.

"It means you're as free as I am. All of you. Free to make your own decisions. We're all free to shape the timeline as we see fit. At least for now. As far as we're concerned, it's all us. It should be that way for the other people on Yokuda as well. The Jills are probably sick to death of us."

"I don't know what any of those words mean!" Marduk said. "But it sounds good!"

"Well, here's a tip." Leon said. "You should go to the Iliac Bay. The first city we come to, go to port and find the chapel of Arkay."

Largot looked at him questioningly.

"Just trust me, it'll be more than worth it!"


	57. Fresh Start

I, Eternity

Fresh Start

The night came when they drifted lazily into the Iliac Bay, in viewing distance of Sentinel.

"That's it!" Leon said. "That's the one! Now, let's get to shore and find the Chapel of Arkay!"

Largot scratched his head. "It's not that simple. Last time I was here I killed half the garisson."

"Well then we'll just need to avoid any guards!" Leon said. "This is imporant!"

So on a shore-boat Leon, Largot, and Marduk rowed their way to shore. Ducking through back alleys they made their way to the temple, which would serve as a holy sanctuary. They managed to avoid confrontation before ducking in.

It was in the traditional Yoku style. A large, circular room with holes for sarcophogi and a central tomb in the center wikth a magically preserved body.

"Arkay bless you." The priest, an ancient Redguard with no teeth and white hair, said as they entered. "Welcome top this holy place. Is there any service I may do you?"

Largot stammered. "Ah, actually I'm not sure." He said. "My smaller companion here said to come."

"You have under this temple one who is trapped between living and dying?" Leon asked. The priest flashed a toothless grin.

"Yes, we do. A young woman, or rather she was. She has been here some time, kept from dying of starvation or the like by magicks. We have been trying to solve the mystery of who she is or how she came here for some time."

Largot's eye widened.

"She was brought here by a friend of mine named A'Tor, after the great king from the days before the Septims during which I was a baby, and we have kept her alive in hopes she will awaken. She seems to be under some sort of spell, and we can't break her out."

"That's enough." Leon said. "Get her ready and bring her here."

The Priest did as he was bidden. Marduk wagged his fingers.

"What is it?" Largot asked.

"He said he was a baby in the days before the Septims." Marduk said. "But he's a human."

"A blessing of Arkay." Leon guessed. "Maybe service to the god has its benefits."

The Priest, along with two large, silent eunuchs, brought up a stretcher with a woman on it. A woman with long, blond hair, a scar on her chin, and blue eyes staring into nothing.

"Helen!" Largot shouted when he saw her. "Leon! Did you know? How did...? What's this...?"

"Shut up and listen." Leon said. "Some kind of vision told me that your fate was to die at sea and hers was to languish here until she died herself. But now that you've been saved, she can be too."

Largot took a deep breath. "How?"

"Well, if what you told me is true, then your ability can negate any curse or ensorcellment."

Largot's eye brightened with comprehension. "So I should be able to break this one, too?"

Leon nodded. "I don't understand this curse, but it should be child's play."

Largot walked up to Helen, and slowly put his hand on hers. The black energy launched out from him and swirled around, spinning around him and her together. The great tornado of energy cackled and roared, and Helen lurched, inhaling deeply.

"Keep going!" Leon shouted, a broad smile across his face. "You're doing it! She's almost free!"

Largot's face was a mask of pure resolve, and the energy intensified. A growl escaped his moth as the energy tightened around them, and suddenly it compressed into a ball and exploded into smoke, coating the room in a choking stench.

Leon coughed into his arm, and when he looked up, Largot was standing, holding up Helen, who was awake and fully alive again. They embraced and Leon smiled.

"It's a fresh start for us all, then." He said, and with a flash he teleported away, back to Cyrodiil.


	58. I Need a Damn Vacation!

I, Eternity

I Need a Damn Vacation!

The teleportation spell whisked him quick and clean back to the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. After the fearsome dry heat and comparative quiet of the Yokudan colony, the much cooler, yet infinitely more humid air around Lake Rumare was something of a shock. Leon looked up at the clouds, and only a handful of stars were visible. as the first drops of rain began to fall he entered Malendil's house.

She immediately slapped him. "You bastard son of a bitch! Where in the name of all the lights in the sky have you been?"

Leon ducked a thrown frying pan and then explained everything, about Yokuda, his memories, and how exactly he came to be on the opposite side of the world from Morrowind.

"All in all," Leon finished at last as the sun rose to its apex, "I've managed to do some good, which is what I want, but I've also managed to run myself almost completely into the ground."

"Well that's... a very long story." Malendil said. "From what you've said though it sounds like Morrowind will need some time anyway before we can really do anything."

"All right," Leon huffed. "Like I said, I'm beaten as close to the dirt as I care to be. I'm going to the basement. I need some rest."

Leon's fatigue had, in fact, caught up to him at last. He slowly inched his way down to the basement, groaning with every step as his feet thudded dully against the wooden, dusty steps. He reached the bottom and fell into a box. He fell into his death-like sleep almost instantly.

That night he dreamed opf deserts.

When he awoke three days later, he bounded up the stairs as though reborn.

"I need..." Leon said, throwing open the door and inhaling the fresh evening air, "A damn vacation!"

"What?" Malendil asked.

"I need a vacation!" Leon repeated. "I'm gonna go down south, to Elsweyr. I think I still have some property there. So I'll just take a breather for a while."

Leon raised his hand, and with a snap of his fingers he was gone. He appeared again in Elsweyr, in a city he neither knew nor cared the modern name for. Into his old home he walked, throwing the doors to the dusty manor open for the first time in centuries.


	59. A Nice Treasure Hunt

I, Eternity

A Nice Treasure Hunt

Leon stretched as the sun set the next evening, sitting up in the dark of his Elsweyr estate. It was built in an older style, a single-floor building with very few rooms, but each was gigantic. He got up and walked through, grabbing a coat he quickly ran out to feed. after his meal, he returned to his houise and began to write letters.

He remembered them. The ones from his adventure to Apocrypha. He wrote a letter to each of them.

"Nemarious, Enthravald, Penta, Morgrim!" Leon said, focusing his teleporting magic on the papers. "Come back to me!"

In a flash of white light, the papers were gone, the magic tracing the spititual signitures of the companions. Leon had heard of some Khajiiti treasure, or something like it. He wasn't sure if it was real, or even if it was, what it may be, but it was called Humbaba's Wrath. However, he understood by this point that more or less any time he went on an adventure, more seemed to follow that didn't have much to do with what he set out to do, and he would grow even stronger for them.

He threw himself down in the big chair in the central room and kicked back. Leaning with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed, he breathed deep in the quiet candlelight. His eyes closed, but he didn't sleep. He thought. He let his mind slip gently through his newer memories, happy and sad. For all the painful ones, he found one that held great joy. He smiled at how different a person he was from long before, when he believed that losing the pain of his past was worth the sacrifice of the good ones. He would never beleive so again.

He wondered at the Dragon Break. That held as many good memories as bad, but they were in such a confuised jumble by virtue of having happened in a stretched, compressed and otherwise distorted timespace that he left them, and the one immediately before when he fought a vangeful avatar of Auriel.

Leon yawned and opened his eyes. He looked over his vampiric, clawlike hands and nails. "Well," Leon yawned again, "It'll be a nice treasure hunt in a nice vacation."

Leon noticed growing noise from outside. It sounded like an angry mob. He waved it off. He didn't know about any of the city's problems. He would learn about them and then, if necessary, help out. A flash of light and a bang like a popping balloon and Enthravald was standing inside.

"Hey there." Leon said, waving. "I see you got my letter."

"That I did." Enthravald said. "I also see you did as I asked and didn't include me in the book."

"Well, you asked so nice."

Another flash and pop signaled the arrival of Penta. There was more greeting as Morgrim and Nemarious appeared.

"All right!" Leon said and stood up. "Are you guys set for-"

Suddenly, an Imperial fell face-first from one of the ceiling beams.

"Oww..." The man groaned, then he gasped when he saw he was in the company of three mages, a vampire and a feral-looking woman.

"Uh. I..." he stammered, "Please don't kill me!"

"Don't sweat it." Leon smiled. "I already ate. But just tell me why you fell from my ceiling."

"I'm cursed." The man said. "My name is Valran Teranus. I'm cursed to end up on the wrong side of any and every religion ever, daedra, Divines, and others. I am wanted in Morrowind for desecrating a Tribunal Temple, so I came here to Senchal, and the mob out there is after me because I tripped and broke an Azura Statuette! it just doesn't seem to have an end!"

"Calm down." Nemarious said.

"Yes, take it easy." Leon said. "We're all going on a treasure hunt. We'll take you with us if you like. It'll be out in the desert where there is nobody to offend."

"I guess I don't have much of a choice..." Valran said.

The group set off, now with another companion. As they pulled away from the city and reached the desert proper, Leon was very happy. There was no way this adventure could get out of hand, he thought.

The sudden appearance of a hideous creature proved him wrong. The beast jumped out from behind the dunes. It was roughly canine in shape, with a single massive eye in the center of it's forehead, gigantic fangs and what looked like Daedric Armor Plating for skin. It snarled as it jumped at Leon, who drew his katana, as Morgrim transformed and the others readied their spells. Valran, with surprising valor for an untested man, jumped at the monster with his silver dagger, wisely trying to get between the plates. Leon's katana glanced uselessly off the hard skin.

He formed a plan, and let his body do as it needed as he thought. He jumped aside from the viciously clawed paw, rolled behind the monster and kicked out hard towards the creature's testicles. He hit it hard and the world went white.


	60. Speaking Of Here, Where Would That Be?

_**Author's Note:**__ Hey guys. This stuff is all already written. I'm just gathering it all up here for the first time. This was from "The Random Roleplay." Thanks to all who participated. The only changes were the ones necessary for grammar and spelling and stuff._

I, Eternity

Speaking Of "Here," Where Would That Be?

Leon's eyes flitted open. His vision was blurry.

"Where am I?" he asked. The last thing ge remembered was a giagantic creature, he kicked it and then....

"Nem? Morgrim? Enthravald? Where is everyone?"

He saw shapes beginning to shift around him. His vision was still blurred. He felt a wound in his head. His vision, still blurring, made out that he (they, he hoped) were underground in some manner of holding cell.

-------

Morgrim smiled as she saw the wound knotting together. She rocked back on her heels, looked about and suddenly commented, "Where'd the creature go?" Another glance. "Where did Leon go?!"

There was a faint mist slowly gathering around the remaining group. It seemed vaugely familar, and she had a horrible suspicion it was similar to what lingered in the ice maze as the prey were assembled. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Valran groped around in the mist, looking for anyone. He then suddenly heard Morgrim's voice. "Hey, where are you?" He started to blindly grope around again, looking for the source of Morgrim's speaking.

The mist was thickening, and Morgrim was sure it meant something bad. Since that thing was almost certainly daedric, she guessed the mist was too. Which was even worse.

She closed her eyes, focused for a moment and set her teeth against the pain. There was a series of unpleasant cracks and a faint whimper, and a snuffling. She followed the closest scent to its source and licked Valran's hand. And pulled a face.

"Yuk, sweat."

Valran jumped at the tongue on his hand. "Um, is that you Morgrim?" he said very quietly, worried that perhaps somehow the creature had possibly survived.

Morgrim gave a low growl that vaugely resembled a chuckle and let a furry arm brush the hand. It seemed the best way to prove she wasn't a scaly creature.

Valran sort of flinched at the arm, but relaxed, remembering the creature was more scales then fur. "Alright, that's good. I wonder what just happened. Is anyone else here?"

"Mehhhh..." A voice moaned from the ground a few feet away. Nemarious lifted himself up with no small accompaniment of vile words and phrases. "How compleatly unexpected....well thats the kind of thing thats just bound to make this a bad day. So....what are we doing again?"

Valran heard Nem's voice. "Um...Nem? Nem! Over here!"

"Stop Yelling Damn it! IM three inches from your face.....what happened....im very confused. Also, a bit-dizzy-yesssss....." Nemarious mumbled as he very slowly began to fall. Nobody knew it yet, but he was beginning to recover his insanity.

Morgrim gave a startled yelp and several growls that could be interperated as "You're sitting on me," or a stream of Daedric based curses spoken with a wolven tongue, depending on whether you knew both tongues or not.

"This Chair is TOOOO fuzzy....And where is my poridge?" Nem squealed as he started to slip off Morgrim.

"...And where am i going to find a hook............." He mumbled before nodding off.

"Ok, no one else moves," Valran said, reaching his hands out. Unfortunately, this made him lose his balance, and he fell on Morgrim. "Uhoh...I don't think the ground had grass on it..."

"ENOUGH! All this falling over is geting us nowhere but down, and although down is a nice enough place to be, I dont think now is a good time for a visit! Follow ME! ....And Morgrim, get op of the ground, you just look silly!"

Nem suddenly grabbed Morgrim by the earand began dragging her through the fog.

"Follow the sound of the angry werewolf boys!" He shouted joyously.

The angry werewolf obligingly sets up a stream of very angry snarls, growls, and other fearsome sounds while trying to sink claws in deep enough to make him let go while not actually breaking the skin.

Considering the sharpness of the claws, this meant not much actual clawing was done.

Valran followed the growls and snarls of Morgrim, and spoke out. "Where exactly are we going?"

"No one knows, But its better than sitting arouns ....Damn it, Stop scratcing! Its for your good young lady. Dont make me spank your....." The altercation continued for some time before Nem's head shot up. "Wait! Where is Leon??"

-------

As Lanni walked amongst the figures before him, he noticed what they were all looking at. It seemed that something had appeared before them in the sanctuary. Lanni pushed his way through and saw a vampire, of Nedic descent. He seemed to be bleeding from a wound to the head. The necromancer nearest Lanni was talking.

"How could be here? Theres no way anyone could have gotten here without the Masters consent." He spoke up as he approached the vampire, "Vampire! How did you get here? Tell us now or you will....what?"

The Necromancer's voice fell short as Lanni brought down a striking blow to his head. Lanni had completed his mission. Casting his power on both him and the vampire, he picked up as if he was a feather and ran for the cave entrance. The various spells flying towards them had started a cave-in. Lanni would have to drain his magic energies if he wanted to get out alive. He decided it was his life against his own magical skills. He recalled the outside of the cave. Soon enough, he was there, as was the vampire.

Lanni called to him his black horse, Lagelia, and rode with the vampire to a near by fort that he had liberated and had been using as a stronghold. As Lanni came to the entrance, he could tell that the necromancers had no idea where he may be. This was good. He got off the horse and half-dragged the vampire into the fort. It was almost sunrise and the light would do him no good.

In a small chamber, he dressed the vampires wounds and healed them. While Lanni's powers were great, he could not fully heal the head wound by himself. It would have to heal naturally. An hour later, Lanni returned to the chamber to question the vampire.

"Wake up! Up you go. Ahhh, there we are. How are you feeling?" Lanni asked.

"In extreme need to get drunk, which you probably know is an impossibility, but otherwise okay." Leon said, rubbing his head. "I could also use something for this. whatever it was sent me here is stunting my regeneration." He looked around. "Speaking of 'here,' where would that be?"

"You're in Fort Stredessis, my temporary stronghold, but there's time for explanations from me later. What I need to know now is. how did you end up in that cave? Theres not many things that can penetrate the protection powers of the King of Worms, even after his death. But, if you must know, my name is Lanni. My stronghold keeps the magical powers of others in check to prevent an intruder. You may feel a tad bit weak. Thats normal and will subside once you leave the premises." Lanni said as he tried to push the wound into a better state.

"It's not so bad, just my healing's been stopped." Leon said. "I can tell that my normal magic is drained. I always told anyone who listened long enough not to rely on magicks. You never know when you'll be in a place like this."

Leon stood up and stretched. "I honestly have no idea how I got here. Are we still in Elsweyr? Also, have you seen a former-nut, a wizard, and two lost-looking guys with a woman around? They were with me."

"No I haven't. And yes you are still in Elsweyr. We're near the border to Valenwood. Of course, if you tell anyone that, you may not live to see another day...but regardless, tell me of your travels. I'm curious to know."

"My travels are far too numerous to name, but I can give a run-down on what got me here. Me and a few friends were looking for some artifact without a name, and we ran afoul of this big... thing." Leon said, remembering the creature. "A bit dog-shaped, but daedric looking."

Leon walked around and winced. "Seems my leg is a bit off, too. Have any potions?" He asked. "I think a quick healing potion can fix the sprain here and close up my head."

"I'm afraid I don't." Lanni said. "But I can brew one up in a jiffy. Feel free to explore my home while I go prepare it. It would be best that you didn't get exposed to my laboratory just yet."

"By 'exposed' you mean what?" Leon asked. "Any varla stones or whatever in there?"

"Yes. But theres also things in there that could be fatal to someone in your condition. I've been working on my own cure for vampirism you see, and the ingredients I've been working with have a strange effect on vampires of all kinds. Only thing is that there has to be an open wound for the ingredients to take affect, and seeing as you obviously still have one in the back of your head, I'm not going to risk it."

"If it'll cure me, I'll avoid it like the plague." Leon said. "Point taken, I'm out of the lab."

"Right. Like I said, feel free to explore the rest of my domain here. There's a library down the hall and a kitchen on the lower level." Lanni said as he walked off to make the potion.


	61. Never Thought Cooking Could Be This Nuts

I, Eternity

Never Thought Cooking Could Be This Nutty!

Leon decided to make himself something. Sure, he couldn't eat, or he'd be weakened for a few hours, but he liked the smell of roasting food. He found a bit of beef, and he started up a fire and started to roast it up. He reached into his bag, and then drew his hand out, cursing. Much of it's contents had been lost when he snap-teleported, probably in the rift between times. The vitals were there, though. Including a bit of his "special" cooking wine. He uncorked it and poured it on.

The explosion was just what he'd wanted. The smell of the smoke was great, like a sacrificial altar. He just hoped he didn't disturb anyone.

As Lanni came out of his laboratory, the smell of beef came to him. "Damn" he said as he quickened his pace.

He approached the kitchen and saw it. The troll had been awakened. "GET OUT OF THERE!!!" he yelled as he drew his sword. Quickly recapping his training from the Blades, he got behind the troll and slashed at the spine. It ran off into the caverns it came out off, yelping in pain.

"Quick, we must get out of here. They'll be all over us" he said as he rushed Leon out into the courtyard.

"Oi, what the hell? Did you not tell me something?" Leon said. "Never thought cooking could be this nutty, I should do it more often."

Without listening to what Leon said, Lanni rushed him along the path and out into the courtyard. As he called his horse, he heard the ear-splitting cries of the trolls coming deep from inside the fort. He threw the vampire on the horse and covered him with a sheet and sped off. As he looked back, he could see some of the trolls after him. He cast a fireball spell at them and they broke off.

Two hours later, they came to a small abandoned home near the border of Elsweyr. It was nighttime. "Sorry about that. When I took over the fort, I had found that the former occupant, some war lord, had kept a large colony of trolls in the caves below. Apparently he only fed them cows as the smell of beef attracts them. I kept them at bay with fire, but their growing hunger overtook when you cooked that beef of yours." he said as he inspected the house.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry I got you evicted." Leon said. "Did you manage to save any of your experiments?"

All of Leon's wounds had healed aliong the way, so he no longer feared the Vampirism Cure.

"I managed to keep the notes for my Vampire Cure. Anything else I may have been working on is probably eating into a trolls stomach. But I'm used to moving around on a moments notice. Besides, it may have been a good thing. I hear people coming from the basement." Lanni replied.

"Oh, so that's not too inconveinient, then." Leon said. "But remember, I don't plan on being cured, so don't try to use me as the test subject."

"Of course not. Its not even near finished. I'm still trying to figure out how to contain the effects of the...err...ingredients I'm using." he replied.

As Lanni walked through the house, the voices seemed to be getting louder as he approached what seem to be a storage closet." Hmm...."

"Oi, these walls must be paper thin. I can hear people talking. I can't make out what they're saying, though, the explosion is still making my ears ring." Leon grinned. "That was a good one, too."

Quite..." Lanni said as he inspected the closet door. Out of nowhere, he punched his hand into the doors and ripped them off their hinges. He saw steps going down.

"Oh that's interesting." Leon said. "Sounds like those voices are coming from down there. I say we go down there and hope whoever it is dosen't try to kill us."

"Right. Here, take this torch," Lanni said as he pulled out a torch and lit it,"You go first. It will be better if I stay behind you."

"Maybe. Hard to tell with these kinds of places." Leon said, grabbing a torch and heading down. "Ugh. Smells like corn chips and ass down here."

"What was that?" A hooded figure holding a torch and shortsword said.

"Silencer." Another said and Zekke stepped forward from the shadows where he had been standing.

"Yes, most hounorable Speaker" the Silencer said drawing his sword. Zekke aproached the stairway and ducked low poking his head around the corner and then silently moving up the old stairs, seeing Leon and Lanni he sheathed his sword and drew his bow. the first figure spotted him and stopped dead seeing where the bow as pointed. Zekke smiled "move an inch, and you'll never have children!"

Rex glanced around Zekke and looked at the two. The one on the left looked like he had some valuable gear on him. He prayed one of them would lunge.

Leon pointed at the assassin. "I haven't seen you for a while. Remember me?"

"Oh yeah, how's it going? Now, back up the steps, you know how it is, buisness and stuff..." Zekke said pleasantly.

"Yep, I know." Leon turned back to Lanni. "No worries, jut the Dark Brotherhood."

"So much for discretion..." Zekke put away his bow and set the arrow aside. "Seriously, could you go, like, somewhere else? I'm kind of in the middle of... something."

"Um... Okay, I guess. Just don't make a mess." Leon said. "Later."

He pushed Lanni back up the stairs. "Okay, let's go find a different room or something, this one seems a bit occupied."

Rex stretched and said casually, "Uh, I'll be right back, I think I saw something over there.."

He slipped around the corner and decided to follow the two that left.

"You know, I wouldn't have minded staying down there. I have had my time with them... but regardless. Now, then. Seeing as I happen to have nowhere to go at the moment, lets say we see if we can't find your friends, eh?"

"That'd be a problem, but seeing as I was only thrown so far, how far could they have gone? They all weigh more than me, so unless some really wierd magic was involved then probably they are closer to the fight area than I was. If we're lucky, they're all together. If we're not, then we all wound up on our own. But I was standing a little apart...." Leon went on explaining the situation, hiow he was apart from the group when it happened, and was standing on the opposite side of the creature, so he would have been blown the opposite way.

"Hmmm....wait....do you remember the creatures eye? What did it look like?" Lanni asked, suddenly exited.

"Please say something valuable..." Rex whispered to himself while listening in on their conversation.

"I don't remember. I went berserk during the fight so smaller details likse that are hazy." Leon replied.

"Understandable. Hmm...." Lanni sat in thought for a second. He scanned his surroundings. From his days as a Silencer within the Dark Brotherhood, he had learned how to find eavesdroppers among even the smallest of covers. He found his mark behind a small rock a little bit away from the house. "...I think someone is watching us. Don't move." He whispered to Leon. A little louder, he said, "I need to think. I'll be back in a second." At the word "second" he used a spell of Light to blind the area over the eavesdropper. Within a second, Lanni had the eavesdropper in his hands. "YOU, Imperial. Your from the basement aren't you? What business do you have with us? SPEAK!"

Lanni was frustrated and had had enough of surprises for one day.

"Uh..." Rex was still trying to refocus his eyes. "I was just walking around..."

"Of course you were. No one in the Dark Brotherhood walks near me without my knowledge. For I could have your occupation in less then ten seconds. Don't try me Imperial."

Lanni was firm with what he said. Ever since the power struggle, he was on his toes when the Dark Brotherhood was nearby.

"Alright, I..." Rex's voice dropped to a low whisper. "I'm not really in the Brotherhood. I'm a thief, not a killer."

"Rexius Xivanades I presume. Yes I remember you. You were being held for the attempted theivery of an hourglass back in Cyrodill. Yes, yes, lucky for you, the night of your trial fell on the same day that the Imperial City was attacked by Mehrunes Dagon. Yes I know all about your escape."

Lanni picked up the thief and carried him over to Leon. He was surprisingly strong for a High Elf of his stature. "Right, Leon, what should we do with him? I doubt he'll be having any more dealings with the Brotherhood anytime soon."

"How about this: You help me find my old friends, then you help us find what we're looking for. If you try to steal anything, I drain you dry." Leon said sardonically, revealing his lethal incisors.

As he said this, Zekke caught up to them cheerfully, saying "Hi LN, need somebody killed?"

"Uh, no not particularly." Leon said. "By the way, I figured my name out, it's Leon."

Rex nodded and gulped. "Does that include all stealing or just from you?"

"Myself and my friends." Leon said. "Other than that, I really don't care."

"And if I you do steal and try to get away, this blade," he indicated the katana at his waist, "will be the last thing you see."

Lanni let him go.

Rex stood and dusted himself off. "Alright, as long as we come into contact with other people fairly soon, I think I can manage."

"Right then. From your description of the monster, Leon, I think it may have been the Carthage you were fighting. Its a monster of the caverns deep below the surface. There are only a few of them in the world and the only one in Elsweyr is in the Valley of the Reik. How you got there in the first place is beyond me, as the only known entrance is far away from the chamber. It would best for us to start there. Its due north of here I believe." Lanni said.

"Sounds threatening." Leon said. "Just remind me not to kick it in the balls if we see it again, since that's the last thing I did before everything went boom."

"Uh, Leon, thats not cool, even if it is going rip your head off you don't kick anyone there." Zekke said uncomfortably. "And you stay away from the brotherhood!" he said, poking Rexius in the chest.

"Since I'm not pretending to be in it anymore, I don't mind telling you that I have stolen from every member, including you." Rex said angrily, irritated at being lectured by a killer.

"I don't mind cheating. You need to to live as long as I have." Leon said. "But yeah, it's a bad idea to kick it there."

"Wait, where the hell is my journal?!" Zekke said patting himself down, "you're a dead man!" he said attempting to throttle Rex oblivious to having set the leather bound book on the table behind him.

"Ack!" Rex gargled, "Journal? No, why would I steal that? It's not worth a thing!"

"Lies! it has all my plans for world conquest in it!"

Rex laughed beyond control despite Zekke's hands crushing his throat. "Oh, I suppose I could sell it to Mehrunes Dagon for a fortune, idiot! World domination? What the hell? You're an assassin and that's all you'll ever be!"

"Ah, well at least I'm not a thief getting my throat crushed!" Zekke said as Rex's face began to turn blue.

"STOP!!!" Lanni yelled as he ripped the two apart. "Zekke, your journal is on the table. Rex, don't get cocky. That will get your throat throttled...or worse. Its no use fighting. Especially when we could use some people of your talents in our travels."

"And my plans for ruling all of Tamriel are safe once more" Zekke said pretending to hug the book. "So, we going to that Reik Valley thing?"

"I guess. It's a possibility my friends wound up there and I got teleported differently." Leon mused.

"Right then. Thief, you lead. But remember, you try to get away, and you won't live long enough to lift your foot." Lanni said as he ushered the group forward.

"Oh, I have no intention of escape, I have a good feeling about profits in the future for this group, and my instincts never fail." Rex said as he began to lead them out of the house.

"Heh. Profits in the future sound cool. Any idea when? Not that it matters to me, right? I have all the time in the world, don't I?" Leon laughed.

"Were it so easy." Lanni said in a passing moment.

-------

Morgrim folded her claws across her chest, snarled quietly to herself and resolved to think of a suitable revenge at the first possible opportunity.

After wandering in a general "Thataway" sort of direction for several hours, Nemarious had a moment of greatness (or at least above-averageness).

"Aha! Im haveingone of those things! Where you think of things and usuely end up in trouble.... AN IDEA! thats it.... now what was it.... ahhh yes! We should probably go get a thing from a person I know about the thing that I dont know, being the thng that attacked us. Usualy I'd say I dont know anything in this world or the next that scares me, but this thing I dont know, and that scares me....."

Nemarious accepted the strange looks with a grin.

"OFF TO ANVIL!!!" He shouted.

Nem looked about, looked back in the previous direction for good luck, thought for a bit, then chose, against his better wisdom, to head off in a north-ish direction.

-------

Valran shouted out to Nem and Morgrim. "Where are you? I haven't heard either of you for a while!" Valran looked around, and started to slightly panic.

Although he didn't know it, for the past fifteen minutes, Valran had been following the echoes of their noises, rather then them. Now they were too far away for the echo. However, he thought that either himself or they had gotten lost. "Just my luck..."


	62. Can I Help It If I'm A PeopleMagnet?

I, Eternity

Can I Help It If I'm A People-Magnet?

Having shaken loose from Nemarious's grip and having a fierce mental debate on whether to bury him in desert sand up to his neck and only give him lettice juice for hydration or to cover him in sticky resin and catnip and dangle him on a long rope from the highest point in Sentinal, Morgrim was paying far less attention to her senses than she should have.

Otherwise she might have noticed a particular scent, or recognised the voice. There was Leon, in the company of three others. She ignored them for now and bounded forwards, giving a wolfish grin and a gleeful howl.

Rex jumped at hearing the sound. "There aren't any wolves in this area. So what was that?" He asked worriedly.

"Oi! I know that howl!" Leon said. "All present may want to cover their ears." He wanred, then inhaled. "Hey guys! I'm over here!" he yelled, causing the earth around him to tremble with the sheer volume. "Get over here so we can get back on track!"

"Obviously your mother fed you cows whole when you were young. By the gods." Lanni said as he started to make out figures in the distance, coming right from the Valley entrance.

"OI! AT SOME POINT YOU PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO ME WHATS GOING ON HERE! Who are these other people?! If we pickup anymore miscreants I shall be forced to make a list of some sort!!! AND GODS KNOW I HATE LISTS!" nem shouted, before shaking everyone's hands and kissing everyone new on the cheek.

"Good to see you too." Leon said. "Well, can I help it if I'm a people-magnet? makes getting my meals exceptionally easy, to say the least."

Zekke covered his neck with his left hand and wiped the Nem-kiss away with his right. "Please, don't feed on me, I already got drained once."

"Ah, don't worry. I'm not that thirsty and you taste like crap." Leon said.

"Should I be relieved or offended? And who is that guy with the bear?" Zekke asked pointing at Valran who was being chased. "I wonder where he got that bear..."

Valran had dozed off after coming to rest in a cave. He woke up to a large snorting, and rolling over, came face to face with a bear. Silence ensued as they both stared at each other...then Valran screamed at the top of his lungs and began running away from the cave at top speed, with the bear right behind him, until he happened upon the group by some good fortune.

Morgrim laughed in her own odd way and wagged her tail happily, showing rather prominent fangs in the process. When someone asked who the guy with bear was, she turned to look. Her vision was not that brilliant in this form, so it took her a few moments to recognise Valran. She decided he needed help, and she was hungry.

The bear looked a little annoyed when a werewolf barrelled into its side and staggered it. Morgrim leapt again and sunk eighteen claws and rather more teeth deep into its shoulders. It flailed and she was sent tumbling off, shaking briskly to clear her head and watching the bear's front leg give way under it.

"A vampire and a werewolf? Things are getting interesting..." Rex said, watching the two beasts in combat.

"AWWWWWWW, how, cute!" Nem turned to the rest of the party "So, What did I miss? Where are we going? And would anyone hapen to have a hook of some sort?"

"Oooo, I do!" Rex said, pulling a hook from his bag. "I uh, borrowed it from a pirate I once knew..."

"He wouldn't happen to be really tall, scarred and dressed in black, would he?" Leon asked, jokingly. he had known many pirates, but one stood clear and recent in his memory.

Rex smiled. "I know of whom you speak, and no. Even I would not be so bold as to steal from the Pirate King. Besides, the one I stole from was rather short and pudgy."

Valran looked at Morgrim fight the bear. "I guess I need to remember to thank her," he thought.

Morgrim latched onto the bear's throat and ripped, biting again and hanging on until the bear collapsed. She licked her lips and tore off several bloody chunks, gulping them down quickly.

"Now that's my kind of woman..." Rex said dreamily.

Valran stood up and looked at Morgrim munching on the bear. "Um...thanks," he said, staring a bit at her quick eating.

"No Rex, thats my kind of woman" Nem gave a quick wink, swiped the hook with a grin from ear to ear, "Ok, before we set out again I recommend we go talk to someone who knows things, and being a person who knows things myself, I know just the person we need to talk to when we need to know something that I dont...as I was yelling before I was rudely interrupted by this reunion....TO ANVIL!"

Rex looked confusedly about from person to person. "Uh, does that mean we're not going to Reek Valley?"

"Why? Find something out about who and what attacked us?" Leon asked.

"PERHAPS! ...Or perhaps some other and third thing that is as-of-yet unknown yet also important! And I think I may be a bit underdressed."

Morgrim trotted over to join the others, licking blood off her muzzle, and again united the team of miscreants and rejects headed west to Anvil.


	63. He's Looney, But With Reason

I, Eternity

He's Looney, But With Reason

At least they reached Anvil.

"Now that we are here, we need to find an Argonian skooma dealer named... Bob. Only he nows where Trogdor is not!" Nem said, in typical style.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to find somebody who knows where this 'Fishdor the Trogmonger' actually is?" Rex said, stuffing an Anvil guard's gold into his pocket.

Zekke grabbed a passing by citizen by the shoulders and shook him. "Do you know Bob?!"

Valran chuckled. "So if Bob is the only one who knows where Trogdor isn't, does that mean everyone else would know where he is?"

Rex pondered a moment. "If Bob knows where Trogfish Mongerdor isn't...he would have to know where he is! ...Right?"

"Well, we know he isn't in the sky, but we still don't know where he is."

"Are you absolutely sure he isn't in the sky? Perhaps he's riding one of those invisible dragons I've heard about..." Rex said, looking around above him.

"Anyways, perhaps we should split up. It would make the search for Bob easier. And it would make for less witnesses around me..." Rex said, eyeing a particularly gullible looking nord.

Nemarious listened toughtfuly and declaired," ....Exactly"

...then he gave the situation some more thought and chose to disagree.

"Your all incorect!! I can't work in these controled conditions! Im going to find a bar. Thats were all the interesting things happen...AND they have beer to! And peanuts!"

Morgrim reappeared from around a corner, now in human form and pulling her jacket back on. "Now what's he up to?"

"Seems Sheggy forgave him." Leon said with a smile. "He also seems to be a master of Mysticism. I'm going to the bar too. I'm a bit 'thirsty' myself. Care to join us?"

"I'll come," Valran said. "Um...is there any sort of fanatical religions around here?"

"Why? Thinking of signing up?" Rex said, snickering at his own joke.

"Not really." Morgrim said. "For the record, the object you shouldn't destroy is the Dragon statue in the Temple of the One."

Morgrim fell into step beside Leon. "Unlike a certain party, I doubt that they have bloodwine here. Although I rather enjoy it too, I'll stick to mead in company."

"Heh. That was a hoot. Tou're probably right, they don't. But they have people of ill-repute around here." Leon said, hintingly. "Oh, and Valran, just don't go by the Chapel, they've been a bit sensitive since the whole Umaril ordeal."

Zekke snickered at the mention of Umaril. "i heard that a certain crusader left him in pieces from here to the imperial city"

"Yeah, but he still spooked the Dibellans real bad." Leon said.

"Alright, well I'll be back shortly. I have business to attend to..." Rex said, heading out towards the Anvil harbor.

"Alright, so where is this bar of ill repute? And are we likely to get attacked and get the city guard after us again if we enter?"

"Who knows? Thats the beauty! I hope so, I could use some action, spoiling to use this hook in a fight... Its down by the docks by the way... I know some people there from... previous engagements."

"Alright, I'll avoid the Chapel...and not mention Umaril." He listened to the rest of the words.

The party arrived at the bar, and through a combination of bad luck, bad timing, and Nem a brawl quickly erupted. In the chaos, Nemarious slipped out and vanished. The others enjoyed themselves heartily as he left to meet up with his contact.

Nem knocked, wisteled at, and, for good mesure, urinated on the door of the abandoned shack in a particulaly unfasionable corner of town. "I'll get there eventually!" shouted a voice from within, "In the meantime, feel free to go away!"

"I have some bacon and a drink for your time!" Shouted Nem over the din of what sounded like a fat man covered im pig-fat slapping a dog to death with a massive wooden spoon.

The door flung open to reveal instead of a scene of total chaos a fairly normal looking aged Imperial with a wandering eye.

"Nem! Come in, come in!" The old man grined from ear to ear as he snatched the bacon and ale-skin from Nemarious' hands.

"So, up to no good as usual?" Asked the elderly chap as he and Nem took seats in equally clutered and uncomfortable chairs on oposite sides of the room.

"I raised you better than good..." joked the old man and the smelly old fellow laughed a little longer than one would think natural. "So, any news form the old home place? i have heard rumblings of change, fellt some of it my self, you heard anything?" questioned Nem as he grabed a nearby glass of warm liquid that smelled like cider.

The old man's demeanor shifted from giddy glee to soberity and almost anger. "Your feelings have dulled son, a change this drastic should have been obvious to you. Sheogorath, it would seem, has been replaced."

With that Nem spewed the Cider-like liquid from his mouth and sat for several moments blank-faced (although it was not clear if this was a result of the shock of this new information or the cider itself, which was vile).

"Who!? How!? When!?"

"No questions!" Spat the elder. "The less you know, the easier it will be for you to avoid the troubles these times will hold. As of now, I know not whether the Duke of Mania yet lives, but if he is lost to us, our lives could become significantly more dificult. Beware the servents of Dementia. If our Lord is gone then they will see us as free game, and if slain in the transition, they will be disorganised, and perhaps even more dangerous."

"How will this affect the balance of power in the realms?"

"Who can say, its to early to tell who will survive the transition and who will thrive in the fire change."

A frightened expresion crossed Nem's face and he looked up to the beady eyed old man. "Paul, I meen no insult to say so, but even you seem affected....you seem almost...balanced."

A somber expression crossed the elder's face. "Many things will change son. You may as well know, if only to give you time to prepar a toast. I'm dying, dead practically, and the family is devestated or so I would hope, though not for the same reason. We need and edge over the other houses. And so we come to the question you came to ask. Your strange obsession with adventuring may yet come to some good. Well, go on! Ask!"

Nem, still a bit shocked and confused, began "I need information on...."

"Yes,Yes, I know that! Come on, no time to diddle, follow boy!"

With that the aged sage opened an unreasonably large book and literally hopped in.

"Come Nem! And do try to keep up.....I have many things to say and you have little time to listen!"

-------

The brawl continued until, at lastm it escalated and a fire broke out.

Morgrim was on her feet the instant the flames roared up, snatching her pack and pausing only to knock out the idiot who'd be leering at her all night. "The Huntsman knows I've been longing to do that..."

She slid up to the others and said in a low voice, "This place is about to go up completely, and the Watch will follow. We need to move, now. Especially Leon."

"Consider that done." Leon said, kicking a hole in the wall. "Everybody regroup at the Chapel." He looked at Valran. "Everybody regroup at a different bar." He said after a moment's consideration, he then left the building through the hole he had made and climbed to the roof of another building, jumping about to the other major bar in town.

-------

Nemarious returned to the inn just before dawn and, drawing as little attention as a man in a red vest and slacks can. As others kicked, spit ,swore, conversed, and reunited with long lost loved ones, He made his way past the drunken and disorented to the upper floor where the party had procured rooms and stashed their things. A few moments later a window on the back side of the upper floor opened and Nem exited into the open air carrying his pack as well as a few other nick-nacks including a deadric sword, a bow, a length of string, a toothbrush, a pair of shoes, three buttons, a map and some dental floss. After picking out one of Anvil's famous steeds and obtaining it for a slight discount (being theft in the minds of the less creative) He set out across the shore and on south. Hoping to put some distance between himself and his friends, Nemarious rode through the remainder of the dying night and the next day.

-------

They regrouped in a sunless basement room of another tavern. Rex had seen Nem leave. Leon considered.

"He's likely planning something. He's looney, but with reason."

So from there they explained away the day until Leon could step outside, telling mostly Valran, Zekke and Lanni about the strange misadventures that had befallen them in past days, After several jokes about Enthravald's people's habits regarding horse-eating and leon learning that his letter had caused Morgrim's temporary banishment from Hircine's realm, they came to a loose smblance of a plan.

Or rather, they tried to. Suddenly as if from nowhere, nem re-entered, and immediately nearly started another brawl downstairs before the party found him.

He was mumbling about dead relatives when Morgrim and Leon immediately made the decision to get out of there as soon as they could. As the sun set, Leon slung nem over his back and out they went.


	64. Cursed or Explosive

I, Eternity

Cursed or Explosive

"What do you think he meant about 'Sheggy is gone?'" Morgrim asked. "Think his master kicked him out? That makes little sense, afterall he's certainly still mad, and daedra don't tend to give gifts when banishing you. Unless it's something cursed or explosive."

"Maybe the daM doG left his realm. It's certainly not unheard of." Enthravald ventured.

Valran walked behind them. "Maybe he just started mixing things up from the drinks?"

"No, he's always like that. Just usually more articulate." Enthravald explained.

"I say we wait for him to sober up and ask him later." Leon said, dropping him.

"Fuck that! I'll just make a potion. Purge his system." And so Enthravald made a potion, a particularly vile looking liquid, thick, brown, with small chunks of something floating in it. He poured it down Nem's throat. A few seconds later Nem got up violently, vomiting the contents of his stomach. "There. All better!"

Morgrim wrinkled her nose. "Only if you have an Orc's sense of smell."

"That's not cool." Leon said, with the same facial expression. "But at least it worked. I call Enthravald cleans him up!"

"No, I've done my part; I got him conscious. He can clean himself up."

"Here," Valran said, slightly disgusted. He used an extremely low level fire spell to dry it up, then cast a little shock spell on Nem to make it fall off. "Now it no longer smells and is off him. You wouldn't believe how often I got hired by Sanguine worshippers in Morrowind to take care of problems like that."

Nem strugled to right him self and keep from falling over.

"Why do my mouths taste like feet?"

Nem spun, grabing Leon ...."Look at me... You... are a nice person.... and now... I have to piss!"

With that Nem fell headlong into the dirt, having lost his intrest in the world of the upright.

"Get chased off by them, too? What'd you do, ask what the point of constant revelry was?" Leon joked.

"No, I told the cult leader I was a virgin and didn't drink."

"I could just slap you right now. But I won't, you make me laugh." Leon said. "Now, anyway, wahat's Nem got to say for himself?"

"Valran, maybe you should worship...is it Namira?" Morgrim suggested. "Prince of beggars and other generally unpopular people."

"Oi, don't give him ideas." Leon said. "He's funnier this way, getting chased around by every single religion he finds."

"But chances are he'd just go and call her beautiful. Hmm...on reflection, I vote we don't take him to Oblivion unless we're doing something covert and are not interacting with any Princes."

"Hopefully we won't be going in the first place. But I guess things happen." Leon said. "But I'll make it a point not to even try to send him to Hircine's realm, just in case I miss again."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on getting near a Namira cult. And I could try and stay completely silent if we go anywhere near anyone. If Hircine were to meet me, I would just freeze in place." He looked at Morgrim. "I have to say, I don't envy your position of dealing with a Daedric Lord face to face. Just working with their cults gets me nearly killed. Like the time I was kidnapped by a Mehrunes Dagon cult to be a healer. They didn't let anyone in their own group be a healer, so I was stuck there. After what happened there... I'm not going near a Dagon shrine anytime soon."

"I don't have issues with facing him, because if you've reach that stage. You're going to survive. You're already a veteran of the Hunts and avoided the slide into madness. He's one the daedra that it's hard to get near him, but he's not difficult to please." Morgrim replied.

"Butchery and slaughter tend to please Dagon, but he also enjoys a good poker game." Leon said. "Won't listen to a word you say if he dosen't like what he hears, but there's nobody better for smashing things."

"I've always shied away from gods whose main goal was to destroy us." Enthravald quipped.

"He has no intention to destroy us. Sometimes 'us' just happens to be close to or reliant on something he DOES want to destroy, like every patch of fertile ground on the planet." Leon joked.

After having a deep spiritual discusion with a blade of nearby grass, Nem stood, Shook the debris from his person, and exclaimed:

"Merry gents and lass, as it were, I have lost intrest in this life. We use to be very close, but over the last few months we have grown apart 'till now I dont know how we came together in the first place. These are strange and wonderful times my friends, and it would be wrong of me to be here when I should be there. I shall have no part of this weirdness. Some things have hapened... things that give perspective. I think it time I was going. Yes...and I don't think I shall be coming back. Leastwise not till the proper heads have been thwaped, kissed, persuaded, disuaded, and/or disembodied all together. I left a note, like any good mythical figure on a jorney would. I thought about using a pidgeon or a swallow to deliver it, but alas, there were no coconuts to be found, so I just stowed it in Leon's pack. Dont give me that look. It was begging to be stolen. Made a very convincing case, too. The note will explain a lot I hope." A wide, wicked grin crossed Nemarous' face, "and provide you with another small adventure, if you will."

Nem picked up his walking stick, gave it a look over, and set his feet north... and after some thought, he handed Morgrim the blade of grass with whom he had conversed earlier.

"That should do nicely... for now anyway" At that Nem gave the party a wink and a nod, kicked his heals together and wispered to the wind "theres no place like somewhere else. theres no place like somewhere else..."

And, in a flash he was gone.

"Um... Okay." Leon said, after a amoment. He reached into his pack and pulled out a small piece of paper. His face blanched even more than uaual as he read the contents.

"What the hell... Shor's Blood this can't be good..."

He looked to everyone. "Nem's gone. At least for now. Sheogorath... He's dead." He looked from face to face, "Sheogorath is... dead. Isn't that impossible? But either way, a few odd conflicts here and there broke out, and now Nem has vitally important life-or-death family matters to attend to. He says there's something he needs. He needs us to go to Summerset, where a blind Altmer will tell us where something very important is."

"Um... a Daedra's _dead_?" Valran asked. "I thought Daedra couldn't die. The whole thing the Dagon worshippers talked about after the incident with the Oblivion Crisis was over."

"That's why I'm so jittery. That's not supposed to be possible." Leon snarled, as much to himself as to anyone else. "Somebody changed something fundamental or broke it."

"Fascinating. And thoroughly troubling. So gods really can die. At least two of the Tribunal did, but their power had been waning for some time. So, when do we leave? And for that matter, do we even know where in Summerset to look?" Enthravald said, gathering up his belongings, ready to leave at a moments notice.

"The letter says Firsthold." Leon said. "We leave as soon as possible. Summerset is a land of mages among mages, maybe they can tell us something about Sheogorath while we're there."

"Being of House Telvanni myself, I've always wanted to travel there. Do we have an alibi? Most of the wizards there are pretty stern and saying we're there because our friend left and told us to go halfway across Tamriel would seem a bit daft to me. Travellers probably aren't welcomed with the greatest hospitality either. Your thoughts?" Enthravald said.

"Travellers are never really welcomed anywhere outside their homeland, it would seem. But the Altmer are less likely to string us up for sneezing the wrong way, unlike the more radical inhabitants of Morrowind and the like," Rex said, "No offense intended." He added, nodding towards Enthravald.

"We don't need much of an alibi. We're in Anvil, how many trade ships probably set out for Summerset daily? Not to mention you're a mage," Leon said to Enthravald, "so you could say you're there to gain some rare book if we're asked, you," he said to Valran, "could say you're looking to be cured of your curse relating to religious people, I'm a vampire, Morgrim you're a werewolf, we all have something or another!"

"Alright. Let's just be careful with how we go about this. The only thing more suspicious than not having an alibi, is having one that's too good." Enthravald said, sitting down and pulling out a book.

"At least my alibi's true," Valran muttered. "In any case, I'm ready to go. But first, let me just get this thing out." He pulled out a small ash mask and put it out. "That thing needs a little sunlight. Some Khajiit in Gnaar Mok sold that ash mask to me for about two thousand gold. Said it was made using stuff only known about in Vvardenfell." He looked at them. "How common are they?"

Leon took one look at the mask and did a facepalm on himself. "You know what? Maybe it'd be best if you left that behind."

"But I paid two thousand gold for this thing. And it got rid of a nasty cold I had once..."

"Well, just keep it out of sight." Leon said, with a shrug.

Enthravald's eyes were huge. "Did the fellow you bought it from happen to say where it was from? I couldn't imagine it's the real one... and yet... You're sure it cured you?"

"I was cured mid-sneeze. Very odd, to say the least." He put it back in his pack. "But why's it so weird? It's not illegal to have masks in Morrowind, is it? Sort of like with Moon Sugar everywhere but Elsweyr?"

"If we ever go to Morrowind, we're taking a trip to Gnisis. I'll tell you why then. I would agree with Leon, put it away, keep it away, and never say anything about it again. Now, let's go find a blind Altmer."

"Er, going to Gnisis would be suicidal. I'd leave it on Vivec's doorstep and run like hell. Better, leave it there and use a Divine Intervention or Recall and then run like hell. And Leon, using your vamprism as an excuse would be a bad idea, Altmer are second only to Dunmer in their dislike of the undead. I have no idea how they react to werewolves though. I honestly cannot think of a single werewolf from the Summerset Isles. Every Altmer werewolf has been a traveller in the wrong place in another land."

"Let's just mail it to them.' Enthravald said. "Anyway, do we have a plan for getting there, and all that fun stuff? Being a mage I've always wanted to travel to the land of the Psijics. Although we will look like quite an...interesting party. Should we make a surrogate leader, to look more like a party? Or should we travel as a mass? It's preferable we flesh out these little details before we're there and asked what we're doing."

He considered about the vampire situation. "Maybe the Psijics at least will have me, like the Telvanni would. Scholarly curiosity will override revulsion if we're lucky. Or I could wear this." Leon pulled a huge rimmed hat out of his bag. "I've been meaning to try it out. Goes wonderfully with the cloak."

Morgrim took one look at Leon and snickered. "And clashes hideously with your hair."

"Well, your face-fur clashes with your back-fur." Leon countered with a grin. "I like this hat."

"Leon, very few people pay attention to my fur colour. My teeth and claws tend to preoccupy them. Now, does anyone have any bright ideas for getting to Firsthold? Skipping through Oblivion would work but I think that would be a really bad choice. So... ship? Guild guide? Dragonback? I have no clue what sort of transport people use."

"Hmm, I do have some plans for a Dwemer airship back at my tower, although, I wouldn't trust something so... untested for such a long journey. But it could impress the Altmer, and get them talking, but I deem it too dangerous. But a boat would take forever." Enthravald started mumbling to himself, stroking his chin.

"I have an idea! What we can do is have one of the better mages cast a walter walking spell and we take horses!" Leon said. "It'd be faster than most boats."

"Are you mad? Do you know how hard it would be to cast a water walking spell for that many people, and keep it up for that distance? It can't be done. We could, however, find an enchanter to make up some amulets or something of constant water walking to put on the horses. That could work, though I've never seen any enchantments put on animals, not to mention ones that are so delicious, but I don't see why it wouldn't work." Enthravald replied.

"Whoa, you eat horses?!" Zekke asked astounded. "That would ruin a perfectly good ride. But I know that the enchantments on Wayshrines can affect horses, from once upon a time when I was nicer to beggars and such. So it could work."

Morgrim shudders. "I'll shift and take the spell upon myself, thank you. A werewolf can keep up with a horse and there is no way I'm going to ride one of those spindly legged things. And before anyone says it, somehow I think horses galloping over water is going to attract just as much attention as a werewolf."

Valran spoke up. "Don't you think, considering how much it would cost for that enchantment and horses, that a boat would simply be cheaper? I know a couple of priests in the Temple of the One who could get us a couple of boats." Valran grinned. "Only religion I've met and not had problems with."

"I wouldn't try your luck. Are there any enchanters among the group, or does anyone know any that would do it for cheap? I could pull some strings, but it would involve going to Morrowind, which is in the opposite direction of our goal."

"At this rate we may as well walk." Morgrim moaned.

"Seems the fastest way across would be Mages Guild Guide." Leon said. "Really the only pracctical solution."

"Mages Guild? Pff, bunch of pretend wizards if you ask me. Anyway, what do you think it would cost, for all of us and our gear?" Enthravald said, stroking his goatee.

"A drawn sword and a sharp toungue, really." Leon said, smirking.

"Oh please!" Enhravald said. "The Mage's Guild isn't stupid. They'd call the guards, and we'd all be arrested. And while some of Tamriel's greatest heroes started as mere prisoners, I highly doubt fate would be so kind to us."

"Well, actually, now that I think about it, every prisoner I've ever met either escaped prison, became a hero, or ended up dead. I've never seen one stay in their cell. You'd think they would learn." Valran sat down. "Why don't we just find someone who knows Mysticism and owes one of you a favor?"

Fed up at last, Leon made his decision.

"All right. Gimme that beer." Leon said. He then proceeded to shove as much booze as possible down his throat, fully aware of how bad it was for him to ingest liquors undistilled in blood. He then vomited all over the floor, and out from the vampiric stomach acids popped a pinkish-red man fondling a golden woman, holding a skull in his free hand and with a skooma pipe hanging from his mouth.

"Yo, Sanguine! I need a hand!" He shouted.

"Best. Summoning. Ever." Zekke said wide eyed.

"If you think so you do it next time." Leon panted. "Oi, get us to Summerset!" He choked out to Sanguine. "I'll host a massive party sometime as payment."

Sangune laughed. He burst with a shockwave of red light, and where he had just been standing was a portal.

"I really hate summoning Daedra Princes when it isn't the right day." Leon said as he stumbled towards the gate.

"I don't think that will go unnoticed for long. Let us see where we end up this time..." With a glance at the others Morgrim took a flying leap through the portal.

Leon managed a shambling walk through, and popped out, not in Sanguines realm like the last adventure when they opened a gate to Hermaeus Mora's realm, but, astonishingly (or not, depending how you look at it), wound up between massive, diorganized mountains of books and ruined bookshelves.

Valran stepped through the portal, then looked around. "Not how Sanguine's followers described it," Valran said. "He didn't see me, did he?"

Ignoring present company, Morgrim indulged in an impressive steam of daedric curses, tapering into something that sounded like grinding ice. "Any chance our previous portals are still accessable? I doubt Mora will want to see us again..."

"Fuckberries..." Was all Leon had to say. They had been spat out of the portal in the realm of Hermaeus Mora as thousands of tiny Daedra shuffled about, repairing bookshelves and storing the countless volumes upon them as they waited for their Prince to fully recover His power after what Nem and Leon had done to him last time.


	65. He's An Ugly Bastard Who Hates Us!

I, Eternity

He's An Ugly Bastard Who Really Doesn't Like Us

"Some of these old books must be worth something..." Said Rex, leaning in close to try and read the worn-out covers of the decrepit books.

"Don't bother. They don't have titles. Really hard to find stuff that way." Leon said, warily looking all around. "Let's try to find the old portal nexus and hope it still works. It should lead us to the portal to Sanguine's realm and from there we can get out."

"Does this mean you're still throwing the party?" Enthravald said sarcastically. "And I wouldn't read anything, if I were you, some say that's how Morian Zenas was lost. I also wouldn't talk about our last time here, seeing as how...well, let's just not talk about it. Not here anyway." Enthravald said, following Leon in hopes of finding a way out that didn't involve destruction.

Valran also followed Leon. "So, where are we, then?"'

Morgrim answered. "The realm of Prince Hermes Mora, god of knowledge known and unattainable. It is said that you can find anything in this library and that everyone has a book of fate somewhere here. Finding a particular book, however, requires a mixture of luck, daedric help, risk and stupidity. It's something of a gamble."

Something else occured to her. "Oh, and watch out for the flesh atronachs."

"Hm...perhaps I should see if I can find mine..." Valran laughed to himself. "I'm guessing this would be a mage's dream, huh?"

She looked at him oddly. "More like a nightmare. Trapped here, ensnared by useless knowledge you think will be clear if you read just one more book...your mind under enchantment until at last you die of thirst or hunger or fade away into nothingness. This isn't a very safe realm to linger in."

Valran looked surprised. "I suppose this realm isn't safe after all. Shows how much I know about Mora." He kicked a book on the ground. "So you people have been here before? Pleasant visit or otherwise?"

Otherwise. And stop touching things, Nem has proven in the past that that never begets good results. If I were you, I'd just follow the group with your hands down your pants if you have to, for if you just so happen to catch a glimpse of some book that interests you, you may never leave." Enthravald said, in his most dramatic, feigned seriousness voice.

Leon picked up a big splintered log from the shelves, ignoring Enthravald's warning not to touch stuff, and threw it up. It clattered to the ground and the sharp end pointed left.

"Okay, we go this way." He said.

After walking for a few minutes Enthravald told everyone to stop, his eyes wide. When asked why, he replied, "See that man there, reading the book, the guy with the long white hair; that's my uncle Kaetra! He disappeared from his home years ago, and we just figured he was killed in a duel!"

When Enthravald tried talking to him he was unresponsive at first, then he looked up and started babbling incoherently about the Dwemer and other stuff it was hard to make out. "I think we should take him with us, he would be a fascinating case to study back home. Or perhaps when we're in a more...hospitable environment, I can call for an attendant Daedra to take him back to Port Telvannis...truly fascinating..."

"Why would we want to take him with us?" Zekke asked kicking a book towards Enthravald's uncle. "I don't know what you all did, but it seems like staying here is a bad idea. Daedra don't seem to like people." The assassin paused and looked around "and I don't want to die in a library, of all places, there being rules about not screaming in agony and all"

"We'd bring him with us so we could send him back to my peers for study. Don't you understand, there are NO documented cases of someone returning from here. We'd test him to see if there is any physical or mental loss or gain, see if we can get him back to his former self, or at least to a coherent conversation, and see what he's learned. This could be groundbreaking!" Enthravald all-but started to foam at the mouth from all the possibilities in his head. "With this I could finally make my move on the Telvanni Council. It could also prove a catalyst for further exploration into the wealth of knowledge stored here. Just imagine all we could learn!" This time Enthravald did start to foam at the mouth.

"Either call a Daedra or leave him." Leon said. "He's too far gone to help here, in these conditions."

Leon looked at the man, and shuddered. "It just makes me think what would happen if we get lost this time."

Valran stared at the man. "Geez, I guess you were right, Morgrim. How long til we're out of here?"

"Can we at least keep him with us until we're out of Oblivion? I'd rather not summon a Daedra here; they're in charge here...plus, you never know, Hermes Mora could find us."

Leon grimaced. "Right. And something tells me he would be VERY not happy to catch us here again."

Valran stared. "So, you guys have gotten someone upset that I've never gotten upset." Valran made a small, scared laugh. "I've heard he's not nice. He doesn't look nice either. More like a pile of slime with eyes."

"And tentacles, don't forget tentacles." Leon said. "And crabclaws. Yeah, he's an ugly bastard who really doesn't like us."

After walking for a substantial amount of time, they came to a hunk of twisted metal and magical energy.

"Oh boy. Well, we found it, at least..." Leon said. ""Okay, there's no guarantee that it'll take us where we want to go. But it looks like it'll mostly work. All we need to do is set up a barrier around it to keep it focused. Anyone think they can do that? It'll take a hell of a barrier."

"I could try," said Enthravald, "if there are any other mages in the party, help would be greatly appreciated. If you're not a mage, then stay out of the way." Enthravald started making preparations. "Alright, be on your guard; this much magick could make this thing a beacon, plus, something could come through the other side, so just be ready for anything." With that, Enthravald began casting the barrier spell.

"Ooh! I could help! I learned Conjuration in a Molag Bal cult!" Valran stepped towards Enthravald. "Can I help?"

Leon's arm shot forward. "No offense, but being where we are, who'se in charge, and what happens when you and deities cross, maybe it'd be best if you didn't."

"Oh." Valran's voice significantly lowered in excitement. "Right."

"Magic... blocked?" Zekke said uncertainly. "Well, lets make with the casting, not like we have many mages anyway..."

Enthravald cast the barrier spell, and a purple haze condensed, thickened and spread out like a shockwave through the party, and a reddish-purple fireball shot straight up and exploded.

"That's not supposed to happen," Enthravald said quizzically, looking up. "The good news is, I think it'll hold. The bad news is, 'people' (and I use that term lightly) know we're here. However, most of them are probably too absorbed in their reading to notice. I'm just gonna maintain this barrier, just to be safe."

Enthravald sat down, cross-legged, and closed his eyes. He opened one and issued a caveat: "It'd be best not to talk to or touch me, as that could break my concentration. That or send a pulse of pure magicka coursing through your veins, and no one wants that."

Valran immediately stepped into a small, surprisingly empty corner, sitting and remaining as still as possible to avoid making noise.

Leon nodded and made to step through the portal, when suddenly a green tentacle covered with unsightly pustules and dripping with whitish-green mucus whipped from nowhere, tangling around his ancles and pulling him swiftly into the air.

"Ah, hell." Leon said. "What was that about being too absorbed in reading?" He muttered to himself as the full mass of what looked like a gigantic mount of flesh, pus and nose drippings with crabclaws and eyes leveled him in "front" of itself.

"Um.... Hi?"

The Daedra Prince roared at him, "**You have invaded the sanctity of my Infinite Library twice! Your friend's impertinence will cost you very severely!"**

With a quick movement, Leon cut off the tentacle suspending him, then ran to the portal and dove in with the cry of "Hurry! I don't think he's in the mood for a book club discussion!"

Valran made a little yelp, and half ran, half crawled to the portal, hoping one of Mora's...eyes, didn't see him.

Zekke stared wide eyed for a moment before scrambling for the portal pushing the companions who had not already gone through in before crawling in himself.

They popped out in the middle of a bustling urban center. On one side of the street was a run-down stall selling fruits. Across from that were large marble buildings reaching high above the clouds.

"Wow. That actually worked." Leon said as he was jostled by Altmer crowds. "We're in Summerset."

Valran fell through the portal, and landed near the others. Unfortunately, he landed on an Altmer's stall, sending the fruit flying everywhere. Deciding to avoid more trouble, he crawled through the crowd. He finally stood up near Leon. "So," he said, brushing his arms off, "I haven't caused anyone to notice me, have I?" He felt a little happy on his two barely-made escapes.

Leon looked around. The Altmer who owned the stand was riunning the opposite way. That meant he either didn't know where they were or he was getting the guards.

"I don't think we should stay here any longer." He said. He couldn't see over the buildings, as-was, so he walked towards a large, reputable-looking inn.

"Seconded." Rex said as he followed, his coat already filled with the altmer's wares.

Enthravald jumped out of the portal last, and landed gracefully on his feet, sealing it it behind him. "All this trans-plane jumping is thirsty work. I'm in the mood for some a nice brew." With that he followed Leon and the others to the inn.

Leon walked into the inn and immediately went up to the roof to get his bearings.

Enthravald walked up to the bar and ordered a Cyrodilic Brandy, and then proceeded to sit down at a table with his rescued uncle to enjoy the drink.

Valran ordered "whatever is cheapest," then, after giving the barkeep the money, followed Enthravald over. "Mind if I join you?" He said, already beginning to pull out a chair.

When Mora had appeared, Morgrim's first reaction was to step backwards, unfortunately placing her on the wrong side of the rapidly fading barrier. And placing the Prince between her and the portal. Knowing she could escape this realm was little consolation when she also knew that her Master would likely skin her himself if she appeared at the Hunting Grounds with an angry and wounded Hermeaus Mora at her tail.

She did the only sensible thing that came to mind. She shifted in record time and used the natural agility of her werewolf form to jump straight over the Prince and through the portal, arriving several beats after the others and tangled in the remains of a fruit stall. After a few seconds to let her head stop spinning she noticed two things. One was that she was staring straight into the eyes of a stunned Altmer. The other was that she was still a werewolf. "Ok, not so sensible." Her ears went back. The Altmer bolted. The crowd turned from watching the stall owner to running to watching the beast very slowly distangle herself from the wreckage.

There were several moments of silence. Then the panic began.

She dropped to all fours, put her tail between her legs and ran for it.

Leon saw a dog-like creature in the foodstall they had already smashed, and was smart enough to figure out what was going on.

"Crap." He said. He stopped the incognito act, ran up, and tried to herd Morgrim into the inn without getting everyone killed.

They eventually managed to get inside. Leon asked for a large, top-floor room, and managed to shut the inkeeper up before he said "no dogs allowed." At the top, he looked at the Tower in the distance. One place he couldn't go because of one elf's folly: Artaeum.

"That's where I'm going. This is more than treasure. This is something I need to do."

It was cloudy. A storm was brewing. Leon could smell rain in the wind, and ear the thunder rumble in the distance. It was humid.

"I won't ask you to go with me. But I need to do something. something that isn't very smart. And I'm driven to it by our favorite lunatic. I won't ask you all to come with me. In fact..." Leon paused, "Unless you feel you need to see why, I'll ask you to stay behind. You can come with me on this journey, but afterwards we may need to seperate for a while. I myself will need to go it alone for a while after this."

"Who is staying woth me, and who feels the need to go their own way?"

"You can't travel to the home of the Psijic Order without your resident mage. I'll not have it, I'm going with you. How quickly do you need to go because it would be much better if we had time to plan this whole thing out." Enthravald told him.

"Looking from here, we have all the time in the world." Leon said. "At least in theory."

Valran answered. "I'll come," he said. "I don't really have anywhere else to go. Pretty much everyone in Tamriel except this group hates me by now."

Rex's thoughts drifted to the treasures of the High Elves: rare, valuable alchemical ingredients, countless rings and amulets glistening with enchantment, and scrolls that some mages would gladly sell their houses for. "I'll come, too." he found himself saying, wiping a slight trail of drool from his chin.

Enthravald saw the intentions in his eyes. "You'll be a dead man before you rend our mission with greed. An avaricious man is dead weight at best. If it's treasure you're after, I'm sure there are bandits around somewhere." Enthravald stopped and took a moment to collect himself, and then said in a calm voice, "Pardon me for being so blunt and forceful, but being a mage I respect the Psijics more than any other group of their kind. I'll not let you steal from their Order."

"Okay then." Leon said. "Guess I'll never be rid of you folks." he joked. "alright, then. Let me explain a bit. I want no bodies if it can be avoided. I'm going to be wearing a cloak. They might be a little miffed at me, still, even though what happened was definitelty not my fault."

It's a good thing hardly anyone goes to Artaeum," Valran mumbled. "What would they have to be angry about? How often do vampires and Psiijics cross paths?"

"Not as much as we probably should." Leon said.

"That reminds me, Artaeum is no place for my uncle in his...condition." He produced a large, intricate black key from his sleeve and held it in the air, as if in a lock only he could see. He then proceeded to turn it, and a door to match the key appeared (large, black, and intricate). A dremora stepped out, eyed everyone and turned to Enthravald. "K'raesh, take my uncle back to Tel Tavoris please. Also, take this," He handed the dremora a small satchel. Enthravald turned to the rest of the party, "If anyone else has anything they'd like back at my home for safe-keeping, it'd be best to speak now."

"Take my money," Valran said, "I don't want to be pickpocketed on Artaeum."

Leon gawked. "That's cool." He said, then pulled a batch of maps and a black book from his magic satchel and gave it over. "Flip through that if you like. if they found that they'd be a little... miffed."

Morgrim slunk out from under the table she had been sulking under and shifted back to her human form. A silver ring on her left hand was carefully removed and rolled between her fingers for several long moments. "I don't know how necromancy is taken here, even if the one raised comes willingly and refuses the chance to depart in peace. This ring is my main link to my bonewolf, Akalabeth. Call him if you want, but I take no responsibility for anything he bites if you do." She passed the ring over. "And if you lose it, my master will have you named the Hare."

"That sounds like a bad thing." Leon said, gently fingering the small object. "I'll be sure to keep it safe then."

"Okay, I think it's time to go." Leon said.

"Alright, if that's everyone's stuff, K'raesh, put them in the dun...err, basement. In the dread vault." he said, under his breath. "Also, tell Varek he's on guard duty. Thank you very much." With that, the dremora took the items he was given, and disappeared into the strange doorway, which then disappeared itself.

"Okay, well if that's everything then it's time to set off then. So, just so everyone knows we are gonna need to rent a boat. I have the money for that but you folks are gonna need to pay me back at some point." Leon said.

"Will a flask of frosted astronach blood and two bottles of bloodwine suffice?" Morgrim shrugged. "I don't tend to have much gold. I rarely use it."

"Yeah that works but do that later." Leon said, "Damn it! This exit looked so dramatic in my mind, let's go people!"

"Well you know I'm good for it," Enthravald said with a blank face, "I'm a lord of the Telvanni; I'm fabulously wealthy. Also, I made a shit-ton of money after our first adventure. I remember it every time I see an orc. Good times."

Rex delved into his pockets and thrust a good-sized bag of jewelry into Leon's hands, saying "There, that covers everyone! Let's get moving!" If what Enthravald said was true, and such wealth could be made by someone who takes it so lightly, imagine the fortune awaiting one who would actively seek it!

"Okay! Good! Out the door we go now!" Leon said, practically throwing himself down the hallway to the stairs.

"Dodle-oo, doodle-oo, doodle oo doo doo." He hummed as he started into the street and began walking down towards the docks. The rain was intensifying and there were rapid flashes of light. Most people were heading inside, except for the man whose stall they had trashed. He just stood there with a blank look.

Leon didn't need a second glance to know something really nasty had happened. He took one anyway. The elf fell to the ground, a knife in his back.

"Fuckberries." he muttered. He closed his eyes and let his hunter's sight take over. He saw that there was some quick movement on a roof above.

"Meet me at the docks." He called back to the others before bounding up after the killer. A feeling in his gut told him this was about what they were doing.

Valran watched Leon climb up towards the rooftops. "Works for me," he muttered, running towards the docks.

"Hold it." Leon said. The killer jumped surprisingly high, landing on the roof of the inn he just left.

"So you're not human either." He muttered, and jumped after the killer. He landed on the roof and chased down the man, tackling him to the ground. "I know why you're here." The man said. "You're here to find the next in line."

Leon picked up the man, who was astoundingly heavy even for him, and threw him. The black cloak came off and all Leon saw before the creature shattered on the pavement below was crystals.

"Uh-oh."

Leon jumped back down to the group.

"This is bad. Everyone, I think it'd be best if we waited on this. I'm going up north back to the new Yokudan colony. Maybe I'll see some of you again, I really hope I do. But as it stands, I need to dissapear." And with that, Leon swept himself into a shadowy alley and dissapeared.

Valran looked on as Leon disappeared. "What am I supposed to do now?" He attempted to follow Leon down the alley, but bumped into an elf in a robe on the way. He heard a crash. "You fool! That was the offering to the Nine!" Valran stared, then attempted to run. "VANDAL!" Valran quickly ran towards the docks, and got himself onto a small trading vessel, hiding in the cargo hold. "Vampires," he said, as the boat carried him on to another story.

Leon watched from the shadows of the alley. he would remember to send Rex his money back someday. But the inclusion of a Knight of Order was no laughing matter, it it couldn't be a coincidence that it had appeared just then.

he did plan on rejoining the Yokudan colonists. Some sentient force was calling him back to them, a being he did not know himself. He would answer the call, but not yet.

He hated to lie to his friends, but he still had to do as Nemarious had asked:

On, or rather under, Artaeum the son of the Madman was a captive of Order.


	66. I Usually Don't Eat So Rudely

I, Eternity

I Usually Don't Eat So Rudely

The rain hammered down hard, soaking Leon to the bone. he couldn't throw anyone else into harm's way like this.

He took a step out onto the choppy seas, magic swirling around his feet to keep him above. In moments, he found his stride and began to run towards the massive spire he could barely see jutting out to the heavens in the distance.

Two beings, Knights of Order on crystal wings, flew towards him. Leon ran up a cresting wave and jumped, drawing his sword with a cry. He landed on top of one of the Knights, then jumped off it as the second brought its sword down. It clove the first in two and Leon whipped around, rising on another wave. He threw out his hand and felt his power wash out and over the being. He balled his hand into a fist, and the energy compressed, crushing it.

he sheathed his sword and continued his rain run. Sopping wet, he arrived at the shores of Artaeum. Keeping well out of sight of the stronghold itself, he walked around the coast. He found a massive cliff, and he let the spell go, moving his magic up to allow him to keep from drowning.

His armor weighed him down. The dark was intense, but that meant nothing to him. The weight of his armor pulled him to the bottom. One of his memories from the First Era guided him. He landed in front of a cave. He walked under the freezing water until the cave began to slope upwards.

His head broke the top of the water and he walked into a fairly warm cave, sealed off by water for thousands of years. Or so Leon had thought. The footprints of the Knights of Order were fresh.

"Sheogorath dead, more Daedra on our plane." Leon said. "I know someone is still here. Someone alive. I can smell you. Step forward."

"No jokes?" A mocking voice sneered. The flash of green light spread from the dying invisibility spell. A human in the robes of a Preist of Order.

"Seems you know me." Leon said. "Well, I don't know you, and I don't think I much care either."

He drew his sword. "So, I hear you guys have sunk so low as to start kidnapping children?"

"That's more like it." The Priest said. "This is surprising. Most people would at least try to identify our plan."

"I was asked by a friend to do something." Leon said. "If that means I need to rip apart every Knight you send, if it means I need to go and banish Jyggalag Himself, so be it!"

The Priest laughed. "Very well!"

Ten Knights of Order burst from the walls as the priest retreated. Leon couldn't smell them or sense them, as they were un-alive.

One thrust at him, and he ducked aside. It impaled another. It ripped the sword out and slashed again, but he dodged backwards, acrobatically jumping onto a stalagmite.

He jumped off, kicking one's head to dust. Two down, he turned and cut into a third. A fourth slashed at him, and he blocked. He knocked the sword away with a feral snarl and cut down, destroying it.

He ducked and swung up, dispatching the fifth. The mindless automatons continued their assault. He tripped one, and slashed another, killing a sixth. The prone one he stabbed into the ground, leaving three left.

Heedless, the remaining three slashed simultaneously. Leon rolled to the side, stabbing through the side of one. Two to go. He jumped up, again kicking. It caught his foot and threw him. He twisted in the air, springing off the wall and punching. It stumbled back into the blade of it's companion. The last one was beheaded. With a heaving breath and a huff, Leon sheathed his sword and followd the scent of the Priest.

"You are persistent." The mocking voice said. Leon realized it wasn't "micking," per se, but a heartless monotone. The very idea sickened him.

"How do you do it?" Leon asked, as the scent of old death covered the Priest's trail. "You gave up all your emotion, and for what?"

"In the world, there is pain and chaos." The Priest said. The left tunnel echoed strongest, so Leon followed it. "If all beings either sacrifice their will or, if they refuse, their lives, Jyggalag will make for us all a Utopia."

"Dumbass!" Leon shouted, turning right when the tunnel branched again. "That's not how that works!"

"Educate me, then!" The Priest said. "Our reasoning is impeccable."

"No, it's not!" Leon shouted back, his blood boiling. "Damn, most people leave this 'I have no feelings therefore I am superior' crap behind after that teenage phase! The joys of life are more than worth the pain taken in return!"

"You seek to mock me and erode my will with taunts." The Priest said, so close. Leon could smell him again.

"Not particularly." Leon said, smiling. "I meant every word, but really I was mostly just getting you to guide me here with your voice until I found your scent again."

"What?"

Leon burst into the cavern, all shadow and rage. It had been so long since he had truly feasted. His mind tore into the Priest's and Leon fell upon him, his mouth opening impossibly wide like a snake as his fangs extended. The fearsome incisors tore into the soft flesh of the throat and Leon drained him dry. He threw the husk aside, red nectar trailing from his mouth as he panted.

He licked the blood from his lips with an exaggerated gesture. "A lousy philosopher, but a lovely dinner." He grinned, looking back at the body over his shoulder. "I usually don't eat so rudely, but after such a fast I really needed to get as much as I could. Try not to hold it against me."

He had seen the plan of Order as he invaded his feast's mind. It had, of course, been folly. They had planned to use Nemarious' son as a sacrifice to summon Jyggalag direcly into Mundus. The nature of Mundus was to allow free will, therefore Jyggalag would be powerless.

Leon found the baby in swaddling clothes in a bassinet and a black cloak on the wall. He fastened the cloak on himself, scooped the baby in his arms and with a flash and puff of smoke returned to Cyrodiil.


	67. I Found a Baby

I, Eternity

I Found a Baby

Leon appeared in Malendil's house, with the child in his arms. He felt the tug at the back of his consiousness more and more with each passing moment, but after having teleported he was physically unsteady, as though the force had literally tried to pull him north. The images of a small inn kept flashing in his mind's eye. He knew that even if he hadn't wanted to go, he would have needed to do so if only to make the visions stop.

Malendil was sitting at her table, a spoon filled with broth halfway to her lips. A vampire appearing at her door was a common enough occurence, but one with a human child in hand was much more rare.

"So yeah, I found a baby." Leon said.

"I can see that. Is there any reason to bring him here specifically?" Malendil asked.

"As a matter of fact there is!" Leon said, then explained everything about Nemarious, the forces of Order, and the child.

"So, the child needs protecting until he can protect himself?" Malendil asked.

"Yes. Order is desperate, so even the false hope of the sacrifice will draw them like moths to a flame." Leon said, sitting down himself. The baby rested in a basket next to the table.

"Well, Morrowind seems to be under control, and your "vacation" seems to have been more eventful than expected," Malendil said, "What will you do now?"

"I'm having these visions." Leon said, leaning back. "Something is calling me from up north in Skyrim. I have no idea why or how or who. This kind of mystery is just completely irresistible to me."

"I understand." Malendil said. "I'll make sure the boy is protected while you're gone."

"Thanks." Leon said. "Well, off again, right?"

"I guess."

Leon stepped outside. It was still nighttime, but unlike south in Summerset, the sky was clear and the moons and stars shone bright. For a moment he basked in the sounds of the water animals and the late-night workers of the waterfront district, and then in a wink he was gone again.

_Well, as some of you know, this is where the story joins up with Tides of War, parts III and IV of which are here on , put up by quirkbother. I'm going to be taking a break on this story for a little while to allow anyone who hasen't to read those, and to write some other things (not to mention stuff that happens in the TES Novels might effect the immediate future). This story isn't over, of course, but just read Tides II and IV to see what happens over the next while in Leon's life._


	68. Just Believe In My Power!

_**Author's Note:**__ The following "rest of the story" part takes place after quirkbother's "Tides of War." If, on the off chance you're reading this and aren't either him or Bosmer, go off and do that, remember that there is no I and II, it starts at III._

I, Eternity

Just Believe In My Power!

Leon materialized, to his surprise, several yards from Malendil's house instead of inside like he'd planned. The clouds were over the moons and he could feel palpable tension in the air, and the collective unrest of the people clouded his every sense. He walked cautiously to the door.

_There are humans and vampires._ Lamae chimed. _Beyond that, I have nothing._

Leon opened the door and stepped in. He breathed a sigh of releif when Malendil looked up from her book, completely unharmed along with the young child.

He quickly filled her in on his adventures with the Yokudan colonists from the most mundane of villages to beyond the veil of Oblivion. He also told her freely about how a psychotic woman was now living in his head, and that the same phychotic woman was in fact Lamae Beolfang, Mother of all Vampires.

Malendil slowly digested all of the information.

"So tell me," Leon said, when she closed her eyes and leaned back indicating she was done, "Why did I appear outside? If it was daylight, I could easily have been injured. well, maybe not me, but anyone else..."

"I know." Malendil said. "I told all the others to beware of that, but you've been away. I had to place wards around here. I was attacked by those strange crystal beings no less than four times since you left."

Leon's eyes narrowed. Lamae looked through the relevant memories as he leaned forward. "So, Order attacked you, here in the Imperial City?"

"Yes. Meanwhile the Council is falling apart and since only I and some other vampires got a look at them, they think the guards came down here to quell a rebellion, making things worse."

Leon huffed and stood up quickly. Something about his armor felt wrong. He shoved the thought aside. "Well then, I hope I can count on the others to keep you and the kid safe."

"Where are you going?" Malendil asked.

Leon looked back over his shoulder and smirked, his red eyes gleaming with joy. "Well, I'll take care of the other problem while you guys try to keep things from falling apart completely here."

He walked out as the rain began and, once he was a fair distance away, teleported again. He whisked himself to the ruins of an Oblivion gate. To his surprise, he found it surrounded by cottages. A crude sign with the word "Ione" stood nearby.

"Well." He muttered. "Looks like some good came from things after all."

_How so? _Lamae asked.

"Well, humans seem to be very well suited to recovering from disasters. The Oblivion Crisis took everyone by surprise except for maybe two random seers at the ends of the world, but look, a village is already sprouting here." Leon replied.

_Alright._ Lamae said. _So what's the plan?_

"Well, these Oblivion Gates are knots in the world, allowing pockets of unstable Oblivion space to-"

_None of that makes sense._

"Right. Sorry." Leon chuckled. "Well, something's not right in Oblivion. These gates force Oblivion into Mundus, but it can also go backwards. If I can just work it right, I can fling myself to wherever Order is."

_I'm still not sure I follow, at least all the way._ Lamae said. _You want to go into Oblivion, sure. You want to go to where Order is and fight them, okay, but your mind is going in a weird direction as far as how._

"Just trust me on this!" Leon said, putting his hands forward, touching the backs of them to one another, palms out left and right. A blue light extended from them, and began to slowly work their way around in a circle. A deep growl escaped leon's throat as he scowled from the excertion. He closed his eyes, then they shot open again. He began to pull his hands apart, and a hole opened up in the space before him.

The growl grew louder as he pushed the door open with a final pull. He panted for a moment, then stepped in. He felt himself falling every direction simultaneiously, then he landed on a moving mass of crystal.

"Told you, just believe in my power!" Leon said, smiling.


	69. I Give You a New Name

I, Eternity

I Give You A New Name

Leon walked forwards slowly. The mass of crystal he was standing on was moving incredibly fast. He heard the clanking noise made by the footfalls of Knights of Order, but as he turned and his hand went to his sword, a mass of them went past him, ignoring him completely. Leon rolled his eyes.

_Of course,_ Lamae said. _They've been set to tasks and will ignore anything that doesn't interfere._

As they looked around, they noticed that aside from Knights, there were myriad other crystalline beings scampering about, in various shapes. Leon saw a crystal ant moving parts of the mass around, building strange Obelisks. He saw ten-legged spiders scampering about, making bridges.

Leon kept well out of the way of anything that moved. He walked for a short time, then came to an outcrop overlooking the void of Oblivion. Standing out, looking over the infinite vastness, was Jyggalag. He looked like a Knight of Order, only significantly taller. He carried no visible weapon, at least not for the moment. Leon walked up behind him.

"So, a human has made it to my new realm." Jyggalag said, in a voice that had not even a hint of emotion. "The barriers are still weak coming from Mundus. While I could not yet go there, it was reasonable that someone could come here."

"Yes, okay." Leon said, waving his hand. "I've been around for a long time, I've heard basically everything an omnicidal megalomaniac could possibly have to say. I'm gonna guess you'll tell me your victory is a foregone conclusion, you know I'll fight anyway, whatever. Can we skip ahead to the ass-kicking?"

"Very well." Jyggalag said. From the ground between Leon and the Daedra Prince sprang another mass of crystal, this with Leon's excact dimentions. "You will fight here against a being with your own abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and according to my calculations you will die."

Leon smirked and readied his sword. The fake did the same. Leon's eyes darted all over, then he sprung. The fake mirrored his movements excactly. Leon used his momentum to vault himself over the fake at Jyggalag. He hit a barrier and was launched back. Quickly turning inmidar, he parried a thrust from the fake and cut down himself, his feet coming to ground again as his opponent blocked. He kicked, and the fake brought up its knee, blocking it before kicking himself, which Leon managed to deflect. Leon spun, bringing around his elbow. The fake did the same, and the shockwave from the blow destroyed Leon's pauldron.

'Shit." he coughed, jumping over a leg sweep. He chopped down again as the fake regained its balance, and scored a glancing blow. Their swords collided again, and both were knocked from their hands. With his right arm, Leon punched with a roar as the other kicked, and both were hit. Leon head-butted as hard as he could, and connected as a blow hit his other pauldron. The head and armor both cracked. Leon grabbed with his left hand, and swung with all his strength, catching his fake by surprise and throwing it into a wall. He charged at it full speed, and connected blow after blow to the stuck opponent until it was reduced to a blue-white powder.

He limped over and picked up his sword, and the crystal blade of the doppleganger.

"Not an original thought in your body." He quipped, smirking. "I'd heard that one before too."

Jyggalag said nothing.

"So, now that your lightshow hasn't worked, do you still have a plan?"

"I am recalculating."

"You'll calculate wrong. Maybe ot here, for me, but your calculations about Mundus are already off. They always will be, as well."

"That is impossible. My calculations are infallible."

"Where am I in thirty seconds?" Leon asked, suddenly.

"I calculate you will still be standing there."

Leon took three steps backwards. He stared at Jyggalag. The Prince made a small movement.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "You aren't supposed to be there."

"I want to be here."

"Go back!"

"No."

"Do it!"

"I'd rather not."

"Get back! Stop! STOP!" Jyggalag wailed, and suddenly seemed to be sucked into himself, as all the Knights of Order and the other creatures crumbled to dust and the mass of crystal began to crack and fall apart. At last, the body of Jyggalag exploded, and upon the last shard of the crystal stood Leon and Sheogorath.

"Oh bloody cluster fucked clowns!" Sheogorath said, dancing a little jig to shake his legs off. "If I'd have had to listen to another second of that I'd have wiped out half the isles to shake it off!"

"It was no trouble." Leon said.

"Well, in any event. I suppose you'd like to get back to your world?"

"Might be nice."

"Well then, I'll send you back. But first, I give you a new name, Leon Neleus Godsaver."

"Honestly, sounds a bit tacky, but it rings nice enough."

"All right, now go home. I have a regent to boot."


	70. Opposites Tend To Strangle And Maim

I, Eternity

Opposites Tend To Strangle And Maim

Leon felt himself unconfortably tumbling through the air. He landed in a sprawling roll inside Malendil's house. She sprung up from her table with a yelp, and a fearsome knife appeared in her hand. When Leon poked his head up from behind a crate full of miscellaneous objects, her shoulders sagged and she let out a long breath, vanishing her knife with a quick movement.

"Okay, how did you get through the wards? I guess I need to patch them _again_" She sighed.

"I don't think you need to worry, and I don't think either of us could patch this hole." Leon said, and explained how Sheogorath had been resurrected and had dropped him there.

"Well, I can see the fight was hard, but your armor was about to fall apart anyway." Malendil said. "I have some spare travel-clothes and a cloak for you until you find something else."

"Thanks, but I don't think armor is a help to me any longer." Leon rummaged through the crate and pulled out the clothes, a whole but scratchy yellowed wool shirt, a pair of green pants, and a grey-green cloak. "Well, I'll get myself something more permanent later. Anyhow, if something can really threaten me, armor wouldn't really help in the first place."

The next night as soon as the sun went down Leon went out from Malendil's house towards the Market District. It was always hard to find somewhere open more than three hours past nightfall, but the ordeal of the previous day made Leon want to take it easy just in case. So he took a brisk walk through the warm, humid evening air.

At the Market District he resisted the temptation to go and buy something that would be ridiculously overbearing and flashy. As much as he loved the over-the-top, he knew that he needed clothes a person could move and fight in. He settled for the moment on a pair of black pants, a red shirt and a darker grey cloak. For sentimental reasons he kept the boots from his Daedric armor, then bought some simple steel bracers and a leather cuirass as a precaution.

"Arrows can still hurt me if I get stupid." He thought to Lamae.

The air cooled as he walked away from the noise and lights of the market, but it got more humid. The mosquitoes of the Rumare, large and shiny and green-black, ignored him as though he weren't there. he noticed how hungry he was when he saw a group of young friends swatting at themselves and muttering in frustration. His shoulder hurt from the fight.

"Ugh." He muttered. "I guess it's no different than humans need to eat, but all the same, without a break I'll soon be back to needing one per day."

_And you are worried there can't possibly be enough monsters for that?_ Lamae asked.

"In the world and over time, I'm sure I can make do. But here, now in the Imperial City alone? I think I'll be putting the guardsmen out of jobs. Only so many murderers and rapists to go around."

Nevertheless, Leon found a man who he found evil enough for his purposes. The hunt was quick and bereft of sport or enjoyment. Leon threw the husk away and wiped his mouth.

"A man who longs for battle as he sickens of it." He said. "Pah, that's not it at all though."

_You're worried._

"Sort of. I don't know, having a second person in my head might be making me try too much introspection." Leon sighed. "I'm also just getting a really bad feeling. Just a gut instinct that something absolutely horrible will happen soon."

The feeling of dread stayed with him, but he got a separate, smaller sense that he was being followed.

"Ah, shit. Already?" He asked aloud. He turned, and saw, as he expected, nothing there.

"I know you're there. Come on out or I'll just light you on fire, or whatever." He shouted to the deserted street. Nothing happened.

With a huff, he walked over to a large lawn decoration and threw it aside. "I'm not in the mood for this tonight." He said, reaching behind a bush and closing his hand on a throat. He pulled and tossed another vampire casually into the street.

"Ah, damn." She said. She shook herself off. "Really?"

She was also in average clothes, only it was all grey or black, and had blond hair down to her shoulders. She looked to be Imperial or Breton, the distinction faded by vampirism.

"Why the throwing?" She asked. "Seriously?"

"I warned you. I'm not in the mood to turn more hunts on their heads."

"Pah. Well, I don't care." she dusted herself off. "I'm Seranna. I hope you're Leon or I got thrown out of a bush for nothing."

"Yes, I'm Leon. What do you want?"

"Well, I was hired to give you a message from Aravidel. He says that he wants you to join his organization."

"Who is that and what does he want?"

"I don't know, I'm just a messenger. He said to meet his other, personal messenger in the sewers. actually, the messenger told me that. Why they need two is beyond me."

"Right." Leon said, drolly. "A secret meeting in the sewers when I've just lost my armor. That sounds safe and perfectly legitimate."

"To be honest, the guy did rub me the wrong way." Seranna said. "If you decide to go, you might want to watch out."

"What was the guy like? How did he rub you the wrong way?" Leon asked.

"Well, he was tall, and blond and thick. He was also really quiet and still, serious and all that. And there was just some kind of air about him. I guess the opposite of you, really."

"Well that's great. Opposites tend to strangle and maim." Leon said. He felt another vampire approaching on the roof.

"Hmm." He mumbled. "I think I'll check this out." He said.

"Alright then, bye." Seranna waved and walked off. Silently, Leon waited a moment, then followed. He rounded two corners, easily keeping pace. He heard a bowstring drawn and an incantation whispered. He leapt from the shadows and pulled her out of the arrow's path as the assassin let fly.

"What the hell?" She shouted. The arrow froze, then burnt the ground where it hit. Leon climbed the wall, jumped over the roof-ledge and landed foot-down on the archer, flooring him.

"Well, then." Leon said. "I wonder what all this is about?"

Seranna came up after him. "Who is this? Did he just shoot that?"

"Yes he did." Leon said, and picked him up by the throat. A human. Mind-thralled. "This is somebody's cattle. If there is anything in his mind left, then I'll find it. You come with me."

He and Seranna walked off towards the Waterfront, dragging the cattle behind. Still the dread was in Leon, and he iknew that it had nothing to do with this.


	71. I Almost Feel Bad

_**Author's Note: **__Unfortunately, this will be the last chapter until the second novel is released. I need to know just how severe the Red Year was for the rest of Tamriel, as well as the course plotted for the future, before I continue. So I'll try to make this one entertaining._

I, Eternity

I Almost Feel Bad

The thrall had nothing to give. Leon probed his mind as gently as he could manage. Malendil tended to Seranna, then sat and stared.

"Not even a single thought of his own." Leon said. "Once he shot the arrow, he lost the last of his master."

The poor man sat on a crate, drooling onto his own chest. He was pale and his neck was scarred. The only way a neck scarred after a vampire feeding was if the bite was uncontrolled, feral.

"I'll leave him at the Temple of the One." Malendil said. "The priests there will be sure he can die in peace, warm and safe."

It was a small comfort to Leon and she knew it. Lamae was dancing in his thoughts. They were red with blood at the inhumanity of what had been done. This was far worse than what he had endured, eons ago as a slave to the Ayleids. At least he had been able to keep his own will, this man was robbed of even that. His nails dug into his palms as his fists tightened and a black stone of cold rage fell into his belly.

"Seranna." He said.

"Yeah, what?" She chirped. She could feel the anger radiating off of Leon.

"Where exactly was I supposed to meet this other messenger?"

"Under the Elven Gardens."

Elven Gardens. Leon walked out without a word.

"Well that was odd." Malendil said.

"Huh? Why?" Seranna asked.

"He didn't make a single joke. He must be absolutely furious. I almost feel bad for the people who are certainly waiting to ambush him."

The thrall made a squealing noise.

"Almost."

Leon didn't bother to walk. He climbed a wall and jumped from roof to roof until he reached the Gardens, then leapt to the ground, tossed the sewer cover up and slid down, without a sound. The only noise was the dripping of the sewage. That was itself strange. Where were the squeaks of rats? The grunting wails of the goblin-tongues?

Staying in the shadows, Leon crept by the walls. He felt vampires. He could smell fresh blood on the air, even above the waste of the City. He entered a room that was completely unlit. He could see fine, and knew that waiting i nthe shadows would be pointless if they were powerful enough to see in there.

He walked into the center of the room. The unnatural silence stayed unbroken. He could see the blood on the ground in the dark. There had been a struggle. They had not been quick. Leon felt his rage grow.

"Sport?" He said out loud. The sound was as sharp as a knife in the gloom. He heard them now, stepping from the tunnels and alcoves. Four of them were almost completely feral, kept in check by the will of an ancient alone.

The ancient, Leon saw, was an elf. Dressed in aristocratic garb he had not seen since ancient times. He was too thick to be an Altmer, too light to be a Dunmer, to tall for a Bosmer.

"Ayleid." Leon hissed.

"I see you remember." The messenger smiled. "I am Akrisios. I bear a message to you from Aravidel."

"A message." Leon said blankly. "A message? You're really calling me down here, with four ferals, where you know I'd be able to smell a struggle, and try to tell me you just want to talk?"

"Aravidel asked me to give you a message, yes. I, however, believed she was wrong to try. I will not disobey my Mother's orders, but I believe I know your answer. Before I set my dogs on you, though, I am bound to tell you."

"So Aravidel's a she? Should have guessed. I bet this is an offer of friendship, I swear fealty and you don't try to kill me, right? Probably something about the inherent superiority of vampires, why don't I set myself up as a god to the 'useless' mortals, blad-dee-dah-dee-dah."

Even Akrisios was taken aback by the wave of anger that flew between the words. "Yes, you have it. My Mother is as old as you, you know. Perhaps even older. And she has some of..." He didn't need to finish. Lamae screamed in his head.

"So I'm not alone. You're trying to appeal to me on that level."

"You have a clan, Leon Neleus. Come and join your family."

"Well, Akrisios, take a guess at my response?"

"That you will never join those who steal the free will from a man and make him a slave."

"Right."

"Then you must die. I am sorry." Akrisios said, vanishing in a flash of red light as the ferals jumped.

Leon ducked under one, slavering right over his head, then jumped himself, passing over the second. He struch out at the third and drew his sword, cutting into the chest of the fourth. One bit his left hand, another broke a tooth on his boot. Leon shook them off with a yell, and cut in a wide arc, his rage fueling the magic fire that followed the blade.

The ferals shrank back from the searing light. Leon ran at one, stabbing it through the head, then pulling away from the pile of ash. He beheaded a second, then kicked a fourth in the throat so hard he passed through it. Using his mind, he picked up the fourth, and with a fierce growl ripped him apart.

He stood, in a natural silence, breathing heavily as the fire on his sword began to flicker and go out, casting him again into the dark.

_She has some of me!_ Lamae said. _You know, of course, this means we need to find her._

"No." Leon said. "We need to find you before she does."


	72. Letter from Leon

A letter from Leon Neleus given across the boundaries of the worlds:

My dearest fans,

It has been quite too long since the last time we saw eachother. I just thought it would be nice to let you know that neither you nor I have been abandoned or forgotten by the writer. The issue that has been arrived at is as follows:

I was created by the writer for a lighthearted forum role-play some months after _The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion_ was released. Neither I nor the author am quite sure how, but I went from a self-insert Marty Stu (a term I take from your world, here on Nirn we just call it a stupidly written character) in a comedy role-play to the writer's tool for exploring various historical events as detailed by the various books you yourself can read when you make your forays into my own world through Bethesda Game Studios' masterful works. He gave me flaws and desires of my own, for which I don't know whether to thank him or snap his neck.

However, in my world forty-five years have passed as opposed to a mere half-decade in yours, and we are currently under attack by a massive flying city, as detailed by Greg Keyes in his novel_ The Infernal City_. Unfortunately, the writer has only a small amount of information as to those intervening forty-odd years, and so since he reached the end of the timeline as presented up to_ Oblivion_, he has been biding his time, making conjectures. He has also been writing several works of fiction in universes he made up himself instead of poaching that of Kurt Khullman and Michael Kirkbride. The writer has made the decision that rather than wait for September 27th in hopes that more of the intervening decades will be detailed in keyes next _Elder Scrolls_ novel, he has determined to wrap up the story as presented in_ I, Eternity_ with this, and promise that after November, when my world will have jumped forward two hundred years into our Fourth Era, he will start fresh from some point in the interim and continue through when _Skyrim_ occurs, under the impression that all two-hundred years will be detailed in books that can be found and read in the game itself. And such a plot it will be, as Alduin, in his Auriel aspect of the Elves, has always been my enemy.

So, have a good few months as we wait together with baited breath for _The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim_!

-Leon Neleus


End file.
